Coins and commerce in classical JapanTang court’s Kaiyuan tong bao mentioned earlier, suggesting that the former were made with the
latter as a model.
The discovery of the fuhon coins proved that copper coins were struck in the time of the
Tenmu emperor in the late seventh century, prior to the issuance of the Wadō kaichin. Neverthe-
less, opinion remains divided as to whether or not these coins were actually used as a circulating
currency. Scholars adopting the position that the fuhon coins were intended for circulation main-
tain that the state issued the coins in order to encourage consumer activity in Fujiwara- kyō,
Japan’s first capital adhering to a grid pattern on the Chinese model.^5 Another line of thought
holds that the necessary conditions for a circulating currency were not yet extant in the seventh
century, and posits instead that the coins were used as talismans in an assortment of rites and
rituals.^6 These arguments are also important points of debate when considering the recognition
of currency as a material object among people in the archipelago during the classical period.
Even before the appearance of an original currency in the Japanese archipelago, copper coins
made in ancient China such as the Huo guan (Jap. Kasen, c.14 ce) and the Wu zhu coinage (Jap.
Goshusen, c.118 bce) regularly flowed into the islands. In all these cases, the coins were used for
rites and rituals rather than circulating as currency, serving, for example, as burial accessories in
kofun.^7 The same tendency was evident in the Korean peninsula at this time. In the tomb of the
sixth- century Paekche king Muryŏng (Jap. Bunei, r. 501–523), a string of some ninety Wu zhu
iron coins from the southern court of the Chinese Liang dynasty were interred as burial acces-
sories.^8 Thus in the Korean peninsula as well, the existence of Chinese copper coins was well-
known in the classical period, but such coins were not adopted for actual economic activity, and
were instead used in various rites.
Attitudes in the Japanese archipelago at the time of this influx of copper coins from China
were much the same. Considered from this perspective, both the meaning of the fuhon inscription
and the arrangement of the seven luminary bodies from left to right across the coins are of mys-
tical import, drawing attention to the ritualistic character of copper coins at the time.^9 Addition-
ally, these same features demarcate a clear line between the fuhon coins and those from the Wadō
kaichin onward, labeled with four- character inscriptions.
During the excavation of the Fujiwara- kyō ruins in 2007, a Sue- ware vessel with fuhon coins
and crystals placed inside was uncovered, making it clear that the coins were used as part of a
ground- breaking ceremony to pray for the safe completion of the palace’s construction.^10 This
discovery does nothing more than demonstrate one function of the fuhon coins and does not pre-
clude the possibility that the coinage was used as a circulating currency—although it does firmly
establish as fact the long- assumed role the coins played in ritual. The question of whether or not
the seventh- century fuhon pieces were utilized for practical economic activity requires further
investigation.
What were the currencies that structured economic activity in the seventh century? From the
Nihon shoki entry from 683 introduced above—which forbids the further use of silver coins and
ordered the use of copper currency instead—we can infer that silver coins were in use during the
seventh century. Archaeological findings support the documentary record, in that flat, round
silver plates have been unearthed at ruins dating to the seventh century. These silver plates are of
a similar shape to copper coins but are not marked by any characters, and as a result are referred
to as mumon ginsen (“characterless silver coins”). It is thought that it is precisely these mumon silver
plates that are the “silver coins” mentioned in Tenmu’s era. Their method of manufacture was,
however, distinct: unlike the copper coins, which were cast, the mumon plates were forged.
Nevertheless, opinion is again divided over whether or not the mumon ginsen were used as cur-
rency in economic transactions.^11 For instance, it is possible to interpret the aforementioned
Nihon shoki entry as a regulation of their application in ritual rather than an order pertaining to