Ginza (agency)

Ginza (銀座) was the Tokugawa shogunate's officially sanctioned silver monopoly or silver guild (za)[1] which was created in 1598.[2]

Initially, the Tokugawa shogunate was interested in assuring a consistent value in minted silver coins; and this led to the perceived need for attending to the supply of silver.

This bakufu title identifies a regulatory agency with responsibility for supervising the minting of silver coins and for superintending all silver mines, silver mining and silver-extraction activities in Japan.[3]

See also

• Bugyō
• Kinzan-bugyō
• Kinza – Gold za (monopoly office or guild).
• Dōza – Copper za (monopoly office or guild).
• Shuza – Cinnabar za (monopoly office or guild)

Notes

1. Jansen, Marius. (1995). Warrior Rule in Japan, p. 186, p. 186, at Google Books, citing John Whitney Hall. (1955). Tanuma Okitsugu: Forerunner of Modern Japan.
2. Schaede, Ulrike. (2000). Cooperative Capitalism: Self-Regulation, Trade Associations, and the Antimonopoly Law in Japan, p. 223.
3. Hall, John Wesley. (1955) Tanuma Okitsugu: Forerunner of Modern Japan, p. 201.

References

• Hall, John W. (1955). Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719–1788: Forerunner of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 445621
• Jansen, Marius B. (1995). Warrior Rule in Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521482394; OCLC 422791897
• Schaede, Ulrike. (2000). Cooperative Capitalism: Self-Regulation, Trade Associations, and the Antimonopoly Law in Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198297185; OCLC 505758165