_Japan._--The Japanese borrowed the art of coinage from the Chinese, and issued coins as early as 708 A.D. Plate VIII. 9 is an early Japanese copper coin or _sen_ of the period 818-835 A.D. (inscription--"Divine Treasure of Wealth and Longevity"). From the tenth to the sixteenth centuries the main coinage of Japan consisted of imitations of contemporary Chinese coins. One of the commonest of Japanese coins is the _kwan-ei_ sen (Plate VIII. 10), which was extensively issued from 1624-1859. Large, flat gold coins (_obans_ and _kobans_) were frequently issued from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. The smaller gold and silver coins of this period are rectangular (Plate IX. 7, a gold _bu_ of 1837 A.D.). Plate IX. 4 is the obverse of a coin (a piece of 5 _momme_) with an interesting history. In 1765, a high official named Taruna ordered that all silver ornaments should be confiscated as useless luxuries and made into coins. This edict aroused great indignation, particularly among the fair sex, and its enforcement was one of the causes which led to the assassination of the tyrannical governor. In 1869 a mint with European machinery was established in Tokio, and a coinage of gold, silver (_yen_ or dollar), and copper (_sen_, 100 = 1 dollar) on the European model adopted (Plate IX. 5, 50 sen of the sixth year of Meiji, 1873). _Corea, Annam, and Siam._--Corea issued bronze coins in the Chinese style in its various intervals of independence. The commonest is the _Shang Ping_ cash issued at various mints from 1790 to 1881 (Plate VIII. 11). Plate IX. 2 is a piece of one _yang_ (silver) issued by the new mint in 1898. Japanese influence may be traced in it (_cf._ Plate IX. 5), as on the Chinese coin of Kashgar (Plate IX. 6). The kings of Annam issued an extensive coinage modelled on the Chinese till Annam became a French possession. Siam has issued a coinage struck by European machinery since 1850 (Plate IX. 8, rupee of Phra Chom Klao, 1850-1868 A.D.). BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Terrien de Lacouperie, British Museum Catalogue of Chinese Coins, vol. i. (all published) (1892); J. H. S. Lockhart, _Currency of the Farther East_ (Hong-Kong, 1893-1895); H. G. Munro, _Coinage of Japan_ (Yokohama, 1904); A. Schroeder, _Annam, Etudes Numismatiques_ (Paris, 1905). V.--COINS OF EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS IN ASIA