The New Currency Act of 1871 made the Yen, Japan's official currency.
What was the time, day and place that the Act was signed? |
Clarification of Question by
sidha21-ga
on
24 Aug 2004 14:57 PDT
The time may not have ever been recorded so I am OK without the time
(although would love to have it). However, I do need the date and
place the Act was signed (and if possible the individual(s)that signed
it).
Therefore the requirement is only the date and place the ACT was signed.
Thanks.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
29 Aug 2004 20:26 PDT
Hello sidha21-ga,
I located a very detailed article from 1897 titled, "A Brief History
of Currency in Japan." There's a lot of history of...well...the
currency in Japan, and it's hard to imagine a more on-target resource.
However, there's no mention of the actual law, or the signing
thereof.
I'm not sure this information ever made it into print in
English-language sources. Do you have reason to believe otherwise?
What have you relied on as sources of information thus far?
Any additional information you can provide might be the clue needed to
unlock the mystery here.
Thanks.
pafalafa-ga
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Clarification of Question by
sidha21-ga
on
31 Aug 2004 02:45 PDT
Thanks for your interest in this question.
Prior to putting the question here I tried to locate the information
in the traditional sources, ie. books in the library, extensive
internet sources, etc. My objective is to find the date the law was
enacted because my research indicates that the Currency Act was the
defining point in time when the Yen (as we know it today) officially
became the nation's currency. This is the same way the currency "comes
into being" with the other G7 nations (which I intended to make the
subject of other Google questions after finishing the Yen).
The nature of the currency, types of currency,its origins, etc are not
really germane to my interest. Of course, if it is revealed that a
defining act of government subsequent to the 1871 ACT is more
relavent, that would be important. However, everything that I've seen
so far indicates that the 1871 Act was the defining moment for Japan's
modern day yen. The only piece of information I've ever found speaks
to the year of the Act, but rarely to the month or day. I suspect
there must be a historical record somewhere- possibly never translated
into English - that indicates both. Unfortunately, I don't read
Japanese. I also think I've read (although I don't remember where) ,
that there could be some confusion with translating dates because of
the use of Meji calendar vs. the modern calendar today. I believe I've
read (but cannot confirm) that the beginning of the Meji calendar does
not begin on January 1. This may be one reason why the months from the
two sources you found are not in agreement. However, I have not
explored that issue. Once a solid source for the month and day are
found, it will be necessary to review the Meji calendar "issue" (which
I suspect is an easier task) to make sure it is "translated" correctly
to the 12 month calendar.
I hope that helps..
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
31 Aug 2004 05:24 PDT
Getting closer -- I found this description from the Bank of Japan:
As a matter of course, the government planned to reform the nation's
outdate, complex monetary system as soon as possible, and to mint new
and convenient currency that could command people's full confidence.
Coincidentally, the British mint in Hongkong was put up for sale. The
government promptly purchased all of that mint's equipment, set up a
mint in Osaka and commenced the minting of coins, in foreign fashion,
in 1870. It was then that the "Yen" was actually born (the exchange
rate being fixed at one US dollar for one yen), and they were issued
after the New Coinage Act was made public in May 1871.
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Clarification of Question by
sidha21-ga
on
31 Aug 2004 19:09 PDT
Dear pafalafa-ga
So, the plot thickens... Although the physical coins were minted
ahead of the Act (which is normal), the Act is what makes it legal
tender. What is curious is the difference in dates. May ??, 1871
would seem to be where this is gravitating to, but one has to wonder
where June 27th comes from. Given that the source was Bank of Japan,
it certainly lends more weight to the May ?? date.
sidha21-ga
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
01 Sep 2004 04:42 PDT
I'm getting a strong sense from the material I've seen, that the new
coinage was dribbled out into circulation over time -- largely in 1871
-- and that there was no one official date for their release. One
article strongly implied that the coins were introduced prefect by
prefect, coincident with changes of government in each area of Japan.
Anyway...a few more tidbits:
=====
Jan 25, 1870
We are told...of a new Japanese coinage, in dollars, and not unlike
the Mexican as to size and quality, which will eventually drive the
old coin out of circulation...
=====
Feb 10, 1872
...Japan has now gold, silver and copper coin, made after the manner
of our own. It is only a few weeks -- scarcely two months -- since
these were put in circulation, but is reported that they have already
become popular, and are much preferred to their oblong metal currency.
[This last sentence implies that general circulation of the coins
didn't occur until around December 1871].
=====
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Request for Question Clarification by
justaskscott-ga
on
01 Sep 2004 20:29 PDT
I have borrowed from the library the book I mentioned in my comment --
a detailed book in English on the yen's history, by a Japanese author.
It mentions the date stated in the title of the Act. (Also, it
explains why pafalafa could find a reference to "recently adopted"
coinage prior to the Act.) And it cites another promising book, which
I have ordered at the library and expect to get next week.
In the meantime, I'd like to clarify precisely what you need. Do you
need to know when and where the Act was physically signed? It is
conceivable that the Act was signed on one day and then was
promulgated, or became effective, on a later day. Or perhaps the
signature date was the same as the promulgation or effective date.
This is an arcane topic even in modern law, and I imagine more so for
historians of Meiji law. I have no evidence that the dates differ;
but it's always possible.
So, in sum, do you need the signature, promulgation, or effective date
and location -- or does it matter?
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Clarification of Question by
sidha21-ga
on
02 Sep 2004 04:42 PDT
Dear justaskscott-ga and fp-ga,
Excellent questions. Here are the clarifications:
1. The dates(s) that the physical coins were issued by a mint or
circulated throughout the country are NOT important.
2. The date and place that the ACT was signed is of primary
importance. However, if there is an effective/promulgation date that
is different from the signing date I really, really want to know that.
For example, the laws that created the Euro were ratified in 1998,
but the Euro became effective at 12:00am Jan 1 1999. When I first
posted the question, I had no way of knowing whether there was an
effective date, and thought it was improbable that anyone would find a
translated version of the 1871 ACT to reveal a potential effective
date (I won't under estimate again!). Therefore in fairness to those
who have investigated this question so far, I won't change the
parameters of the question. BUT, if you find an effective date, or a
time (e.g. 12:00am), I would be very appreciative.
sidha21-ga
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
05 Sep 2004 20:10 PDT
The history of modern Japanese coinage appears to be so convoluted
that -- even with a good deal of information now in hand -- it's hard
to know if I have the answer to your question.
I'm posting here some excerpts from a number of texts I've been
reviewing. If these appear to be the information you need, let me
know, and I will post the full details of the sources as an answer to
your intriguing question.
pafalafa-ga
==========
"...In a government ordinacne issued in 1869 the bare outlines of the
modern system become visible...a mint was to be established in Osaka,
and a standard silver coin was to be struck...called the "yen"..."
"At the end of the following year (November 1870) the mint...began
operations. But the work had scarcely begun when the government
determined to abandon the silver standard, and to adopt the gold
standard."
"In May 1871, the silver standard was discarded; and the gold
yen...was adopted as the unit of value...To the decree of May, 1871,
accordingly, is due the existence of the gold yen..."
"On the 2d of August, 1871, the mint at Osaka was declared to be ready
for the coinage of the new money..."
"...in April, 1868...a plan of recoinage was drawn up and adopted. In
November 1869 it was decided to have silver momometallism...In
November 1870, the new mint at Osaka began coining silver..."
"...Mr. Ito...Vice Minister of Finance, who was travelling in the
United States, sent home a Memorandum urging his government to
establish gold monometallism...."
"...the Government decided to adopt at once the gold standard, and
issued the New Coinage Regulations on May 10, 1871."
==========
May 10, 1871 may be the date you're looking for. But then again,
there are a variety of other dates that seem equally plausible to me.
Your choice!
Let me know if I should post an answer to your question.
pafalafa-ga
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Request for Question Clarification by
justaskscott-ga
on
05 Sep 2004 22:57 PDT
I still anticipate that, this week, I will get the other book I
ordered at the library. I will let you know then how much I can add
to what I have indicated, and to what pafalafa has indicated -- unless
you have decided to accept pafalafa's information as the answer.
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Request for Question Clarification by
justaskscott-ga
on
11 Sep 2004 08:19 PDT
Unfortunately, the book has not yet come in, and I won't be able to
check for it until at least this coming Friday. So if you can't wait
for the material I might come up with, you might wish to consider
whether to accept pafalafa's proposed answer.
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Clarification of Question by
sidha21-ga
on
12 Sep 2004 10:58 PDT
Dear pafalafa-ga,
Let me first apologize for taking so long to clarify your question.
The information snippets you've shown certainly add color to the
answer, but it?s difficult to know if they answer the question.
Unless? you can confirm that the reference to "new currency
regulations" in your quote is synonymous with "New Currency Act".
i.e.) Do the references you have make it clear that May 10th was the
day that the Currency Act became effective, or is it possible that new
currency regulations is referring to something else?
Thanks.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
12 Sep 2004 15:34 PDT
From all I've seen, I'm quite convinced that the reference to the
reguations is one and the same thing as the New Currency Act (which
also sometimes is referred to as the New Coinage Act).
I now have two very credible references to the May 10, 1871 date, but
only you can judge as to whether they are convincing enough to meet
your needs.
The relevant excerpts -- from two separate sources -- are:
=====
When the newly constituted government of Japan...set about the
reorganization of the currency...they were confronted with the
universal employment of the Mexican dollar. Though desirous of
establishing the currency upon a gold standard, the government thought
it necessary to yield to the general prediliction for the familiar
silver dollar, but hoped to meet the demand for it with a coin of
local mintage. They provided in the act of May 10, 1871, for the
issue of a silver coin to be know as the yen, of size and quality like
the dollar of Mexico, and gave it the power of legal tender in the
treaty ports, intending it should take the place of the familiar
Mexican coin."
========
..."the Government decided to adopt at once the gold standard, and
issued the New Coinage Regulations on May 10, 1871." According to
these regulations, gold was made unlimited legal tender... As,
however, "the silver Mexican dollar was at that time universally used
in the commerce of the Far East," the Government coined a special
1-yen silver piece of equial value which was declared legal tender to
any amount at the Treaty Ports only..."
=====
Both excerpts refer to the same date, one referring to "New Coinage
Regulations" [as capitalized in the original] and the other to "the
act". Both also certainly appear to reference this date as the origin
date of the modern yen in Japan.
What do you think?
pafalafa-ga
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Clarification of Question by
sidha21-ga
on
14 Sep 2004 06:36 PDT
I think you found it. Please go ahead and answer the question.
thanks!
|
Hello sidha21-ga,
Thanks for the feedback on the earlier information I had posted.
Thanks, too, for providing me with some fascinating detective work.
This was one of those questions that gets under the skin after a
while. I became quite curious to know more about circumstances -- and
the precise timing -- of the creation of the Japanese yen.
Although there are bits and pieces of information available on the web
itself, the best source of information turned out to be the JSTOR
database, which is available through many academic libraries. Their
website is at:
http://www.jstor.org/
but I think that one needs an institutional subscription in order to
access the articles themselves.
The two turn-of-the-20th-century articles that hit the nail on the
head, along with the relevant excerpts, are these:
The End of the Mexican Dollar
A. Piatt Andrew
Quarterly Journal of Economics
18:3:321-356
May 1904
pg 345
When the newly constituted government of Japan...set about the
reorganization of the currency...they were confronted with the
universal employment of the Mexican dollar. Though desirous of
establishing the currency upon a gold standard, the government thought
it necessary to yield to the general predilection for the familiar
silver dollar, but hoped to meet the demand for it with a coin of
local mintage. They provided in the act of May 10, 1871, for the
issue of a silver coin to be know as the yen, of size and quality like
the dollar of Mexico, and gave it the power of legal tender in the
treaty ports, intending it should take the place of the familiar
Mexican coin."
========
Report on the Adoption of the Gold Standard in Japan
Count Matsukata Masayoshi; Ernest Foxwell
The Economic Journal, Vol. 10, No. 38. (Jun., 1900), pp. 232-245.
..."the Government decided to adopt at once the gold standard, and
issued the New Coinage Regulations on May 10, 1871." According to
these regulations, gold was made unlimited legal tender, and small
silver coins up to 10 yen. As, however, "the silver Mexican dollar
was a that time universally used in the commerce of the Far East," the
Government coined a special 1-yen silver piece of equal value which
was declared legal tender to any amount at the Treaty Ports only..."
==========
This second article from The Economic Journal is a summary of a large
and very detailed report prepared by Matsukata Masayoshi, while the
review article was written by Ernest Foxwell. The article begins:
"The Preface is an accompanying letter addressed by Count Matsukata to
the Prime Minister on presenting this Report; it gives a clear
bird's-eye view of the financial reforms accomplished mainly under his
direction. The Report itself is a minute narrative of all the
currency chaos experienced by the Empire of Japan since the Revolution
of 1868, and of the untiring efforts at reconstruction by the Imperial
Government..."
The Matsukata report is repeatedly referenced as *the* report on the
introduction of the yen in Japan, but unfortunately, it did not seem
to be available on the web, or in any of the databases I consulted.
You may want to try to obtain a copy of this document through
interlibrary loan.
I trust this information satisfies your curiosity about the date of
the introduction of the yen in Japan...sorry to say, no one made
mention of what specific time of day the act came into effect.
Before rating this answer, please let me know if you need any
additional information. Just post a Request for Clarification, and
I'll be happy to assist you further.
pafalafa-ga |
