Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/52568

KEYWORDS : diffusion routes;early modern;excavated coins;Middle Age;Sakhalin

This study provides a survey report and an aggregation of collected materials, and examines problematic issues in relation to round copper coins with square holes excavated in Sakhalin. Between 2010 and 2012, three surveys were carried out on coins held by the Sakhalin State Regional Museum, the Municipal Regional Museum of Tymovskoye, the Municipal Regional Museum of Nogliki, the Poronaisk Region Museum, the Contemporary History Archives Center of Sakhalin and the Sakhalin State University Museum. Excavated coins were aggregated from the results of these surveys and archeological documents. For convenience, coins from China’s Tang and Ming dynasties were considered together as “medieval coins,” and those from the Qing dynasty and Kan’ei Tsuho (coins from Japan’s Kan’ei era) as “early modern coins.” Problematic issues were also examined. There was a total of 35 medieval coins. We can assume that these came by two routes : one from the Chinese mainland via the region round the lower reaches of the River Amur, and one from Japan via Hokkaido. Noteworthy among the medieval coins is the fact that of the 35 coins, 14 (40.0 per cent) were large size coins. Such large size coins also tended to be relatively frequent (22.7 per cent) in the Russian maritime provinces, indicating that the less a region had been affected by the monetary economy, the higher the proportion of large coins. This seems to be because in Sakhalin, coins were not used as money but as ornaments, hence larger ones were more popular. One vestige which led to the conjecture that the coins were used as ornaments is the presence of a punched hole near the edge of the coin. All five large Taihe Zhongbao coins of the Jin dynasty had such holes punched in them making it clear that they were used as ornaments. Furthermore, large coins with punched holes have also been found in Hokkaido. This indicates that these coins may have come from Sakhalin. Turning to early modern coins, 190 coins from the Qing dynasty and 15 Kan’ei Tsuho were discovered. Their respective distributions make clear that Qing coins were brought to Sakhalin from the lower reaches of the River Amur while Kan’ei Tsuho were brought from Hokkaido. The mint is stamped on the reverse side of Qing coins showing where the coins were minted. An analysis of these revealed that 90 per cent were issued in the capital, Beijing. This tells us that Sakhalin people obtained Qing coins from government officials (from Beijing) visiting Qing’s branch office downstream on the River Amur when the Sakhalin people called in for tribute or trading purposes. Punched holes were seen in 72.1 per cent of Qing dynasty coins. This shows that, like medieval coins, these were used as ornaments. Since these coins were distributed mainly in the north of Sakhalin, this suggests that people in the area of Nivkh (Gilyak) probably sewed them onto their clothes. On the other hand, no holes had been punched in Kan’ei Tsuho coins. The presence of these coins in the south of the island suggests that they were used by the Ainu of Karafuto (Sakhalin). It is likely that the Ainu used the coins as necklaces or clasps by passing a string through the square hole in the centre so that there was no need to punch a hole and no traces of processing are visible.