The koban (小判) was a Japanese oval gold coin, cast on the order of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Edo period (Keichō era) feudal Japan and a part of Tokugawa coinage.[1][2]
Minting of koban, Ōban and other coins began in year 1601 (year 5 of the Keichō era), signifying the beginning of the Tokugawa coinage.[1] The Keichō era koban was issued with a face value of one ryō.[2][3] Despite the existence of other gold and silver coins at the time, through a series of reforms the Bakufu managed to stabilize the koban to ryō 1:1 valuation by the end of the seventeenth century.[3]
Nowadays, gold-foil cardboard versions of koban are sold as Engimono (縁起物, talisman/lucky charm) at Shinto shrines.
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