Author: Kawaraban.
Title: [Ryutsu Shin Kahei-i-tsuki Hayami].
Description: n.p.n.d. [c1870]. 32x41cm wood cut. A couple of small blotches, rather good. ¶ A quick guide to the new coins in circulation. Added to the mass of new things for Japanese to learn and new ways of thinking, with the Meiji restoration, was the new yen based currency.Kawaraban - illicit illustrated news sheets for the streets - were produced by the million for a couple of hundred years so of course few survive. They were produced for anything more interesting than the drop of a hat.

Keywords: kawaraban social history c19th Japan Asia reform progress graphic art illustration economics currency coins meiji