ed, though not on a sufficiently
large scale. Each of the new coins was equal in intrinsic value to
two of the corresponding kenji coins, and the circulation of the
latter was suspended, the new coins being called Kyoho-kin after the
year-name of the era (1716-1735) when they made their appearance. It
was a thoroughly wholesome measure, but the quality of the precious
metals available did not suffice. Thus, whereas the gold coins struck
during ten years of the Kyoho era totalled only 8,290,000 ryo, a
census taken in 1732 showed a total population of 26,921,816.
Therefore, the old coins could not be wholly withdrawn from
circulation, and people developed a tendency to hoard the new and
more valuable tokens.

Other untoward effects also were produced. The shogun paid much
attention to promoting agriculture and encouraging land reclamation,
so that the yield of rice increased appreciably. But this proved by
no means an unmixed blessing. Side by side with an increase in the
quantity of rice appearing in the market, the operation of the new
currency tended to depreciate prices, until a measure of grain which
could not have been bought at one time for less than two ryo became
purchasable for one. In fact, the records show that a producer
considered himself fortunate if he obtained half a ryo of gold for a
koku of rice. This meant an almost intolerable state of affairs for
the samurai who received his salary in grain and for the petty
farmer. Thus, a man whose income was three rations of rice annually,
and who consequently had to live on 5.4 koku for a whole year, found
that when he set aside from three to four koku for food, there
remained little more than one ryo of assets to pay for salt, fuel,
clothes, and all the other necessaries of life.

So acute was the suffering of the samurai that a rice-exchange was
established at Dojima, in Osaka, for the purpose of imparting some
measure of stability to the price of the cereal. Just at this time
(1732), the central and western provinces were visited by a famine
which caused seventeen thousand deaths and reduced multitudes to the
verge of starvation. The Bakufu rendered aid on a munificent scale,
but the price of rice naturally appreciated, and although this
brought relief to the military class, it was misconstrued by the
lower orders as a result of speculation on 'Change. Riots resulted,
and rice-merchants fearing to make purchases, the market price of the
cereal fell again, s