Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/214

 these documents there was a "joint voucher" (kumiai-fuda), signed by several persons any one of whom might be held responsible for its redemption. This had large vogue, but did not obtain official recognition until 1636, when the third Tokugawa Shōgun selected thirty substantial merchants and divided them into three guilds, each authorised to issue vouchers, provided that a certain sum was deposited by way of security. Such vouchers were obviously a form of bank note. Their circulation by the exchanges came about in a similar manner. During many years the treasure of the Shōgun and of the feudal chiefs was carried to Yedo by pack-horses and coolies of the regular postal service. But the costliness of such a method led to the selection (in 1691) of ten exchange agents who were appointed bankers to the Tokugawa Government, and were required to furnish money within ninety days from the date of receiving an order in that sense. The agents went by the name of the "ten-men guild." Subsequently the firm of Mitsui was added, but it enjoyed the special privilege of being allowed one hundred and fifty days to collect the specified amounts. The guild received moneys on account of the Tokugawa or the feudal chiefs at provincial centres, and then made its own arrangements for cashing the cheques drawn upon it by the Shōgun or the Daimyō in Yedo. If coin happened to be easily available, it was employed to cash the cheques; otherwise