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| monme | |
|---|---|
| Name | monme |
| Caption | Traditional monme weights |
| Standard | traditional Japanese weight |
| Quantity | mass |
| Units1 | grams |
| Units1 value | 3.75 |
| Units2 | troy ounces |
| Units2 value | 0.12059 |
monme
The monme is a traditional Japanese unit of mass historically used in Japan and in trade with China and Ryukyu Islands. It served as a standard in commerce, metallurgy, and artisanal crafts from the medieval period through the early modern era, persisting into the 19th century alongside kan and ryō denominations. The unit appears in inventories, legal codes, and commodity contracts involving actors such as the Tokugawa shogunate, Edo, and merchant houses of Osaka and Kyōto.
The term derives from premodern Japanese lexical traditions influenced by contact with China and continental East Asia, traceable through Sino-Japanese reading practices and weight terminology used during the Nara period and Heian period. Historical sources cite parallels in classical Chinese weight units deployed by the Tang dynasty and subsequent dynasties, and the lexical adoption mirrors exchanges between diplomatic missions to Silla and tributary trade with Ming dynasty officials. The written characters and phonology reflect adoption into administrative vocabularies used by court offices and provincial magistrates.
In premetric systems the monme functioned as a submultiple within the Japanese traditional system, commonly defined relative to the kan and ryō standards that structured fiscal assessments and bullion accounting under the Tokugawa shogunate. Merchants in Edo and guilds such as the za used monme units for silver, gold, salt, and medicinal herbs recorded in ledgers managed by firms like the Kawamura houses and Echigoya-type shops. Legal codes promulgated by magistrates in Osaka courts specified monme measures when stipulating fines, contracts, and weights inspected by officials influenced by the Shogunate's sumptuary regulations.
During the Kamakura period and Muromachi period the monme consolidated as a practical unit among artisans, temple treasuries, and provincial brokers. With the monetization of the economy in the Sengoku period, warlords and merchant coalitions standardized measures to mediate transactions among domains such as Owari, Satsuma, and Iyo. The Tokugawa shogunate further institutionalized measurement through register compilations and edicts, aligning the monme with coinage systems like the Koban and Oban for bullion equivalent accounting. Contacts with European traders at Nagasaki and interactions with the Dutch East India Company introduced comparative metrology leading up to the reforms of the Meiji Restoration.
Traditionally the monme equated to approximately 3.75 grams in modern metric terms and about 0.12059 troy ounces, a value used in laboratory conversion tables and museum catalogs. Standardized weights—made from bronze, iron, or brass—were produced and inspected by officially sanctioned assay offices similar to the weight-verifying authorities active in Edo and Osaka port authorities. Guild regulations in Kyōto and merchant charters in Yokohama documented calibration procedures referencing benchmark weights kept by local magistrates and exchange brokers like the Kinza and Ginza.
Monme figures appear in temple donation records of Todaiji and Kiyomizu-dera, samurai stipends recorded in domain ledgers such as those of Hiroshima and Sendai, and craft contracts for metalworkers in Seki and lacquerers in Wajima. The unit factored into taxation schedules, salt and rice exchange accords among domains including Kaga and Mito, and the valuation of commodities traded through ports like Edo Bay and Satsuma harbors. Prominent merchant families and guilds—identified in archival materials from Osaka's Dōjima Rice Exchange and actors like the Mitsui conglomerate—used monme denominations in price-setting and credit instruments.
The monme existed within a hierarchical system alongside the momme-equivalent notational variants found in different source materials, and in relation to larger units such as the kan (1000 monme) and the ryō monetary unit used for gold coinage. Conversion tables in Edo-period metrological manuals linked monme with foreign measures encountered during contacts with the Portuguese and Dutch, and with modernized units implemented during the Meiji government's metrication campaigns. Numismatic studies of Koban and Oban coins frequently convert face values and metal weights into monme for comparative analyses.
Following the Meiji Restoration and the 19th-century adoption of the metric system by the Meiji government, the monme declined as an official unit, though it persisted informally in jewelry appraisal, traditional medicine pharmacies, and artisanal workshops into the 20th century. Curators at institutions such as the Tokyo National Museum and scholars at universities like Keio University and University of Tokyo employ monme-based conversions when cataloging historical artifacts, and collectors of antique weights and samurai-related material culture reference monme denominations in auction catalogs at houses like Sotheby's and regional auctioneers. The unit remains a subject of interest in metrological histories and comparative studies of premodern exchange systems.
Category:Units of mass Category:Japanese metrology