41
Remarks. | Provinces. | Places and Districts.
|
Idzumo | Idzumori-mura | |
Isé | Oda-yama | |
Mimasaka | Tsubo-i, and Sara-yama | |
Suwo | Yama-hiro-yama Inaba | |
Musashi | —? | |
Kotsuké | Ashiwo-yama | |
Noto | Tokoro-no-kuchi | |
Shimotsuké | Seki-yama, Ashino | |
Aki | Haci gun, Place? | |
Bungo | Hachi-gun, Place? | |
Out of copper pyrites | Buzen | Nagatsu |
Higo | Hito-yeshi, Ashikita. |
This list shews at how many different places copper has already been found in Japan. It will not astonish us that copper and also gold and silver have been exported from this country on a large scale since the Japanese first came into contact with Europeans in about 1545. These large quantities of metal must have been found and smelted in Japan, because no Japanese history speaks of the import of these metals.[1] We have endeavoured to estimate the quantity exported out of this country by examining the journals kept by the old Dutch factory at Desima. Although we cannot guarantee the following numbers to be exactly correct, still we can vouch for their being tolerably so.
Period. | Thousands of Piculs annually. |
Total amount in Piculs exported (Mediums) |
1609-1692 | 25 à 30 | 2,310,000 |
1693-1713 | 30 à 31 | 0,640,500 |
1714-1720 | 15 | 0,105,000 |
1721-1742 | 10 | 0,220,000 |
1743-1751 | 6 | 0,054,000 |
1752-1763 | 11 | 0,132,000 |
1764-1789 | 8 | 0,208,000 |
1790-1796 | 5 | 0,035,000 |
1796-1819 | 8 | 0,184,000 |
1820-1831 | 11 | 0,132,000 |
1832-1858 | 7 | 0,189,000 |
Total in this period of 249 years.. | 4,209,300 piculs. |
- ↑ With the exception of some silver ducats imported in 1769 by the Dutch, and some very old copper cash imported in ancient times by the Chinese.