At the same time proofs became more abundant that the prime of the real greatness of the Tokugawa had been passed. The same fifth shōgun who so vigorously encouraged learning, and under whom the glorious era of Genroku occurred, unduly promoted Yanagizawa Yoshiyasu, a man of humble origin, and treated him with unbecoming favor. Peace had then lasted for eighty years, and both the government and the people had begun to fall into luxurious and extravagant ways, so that, for the first time in the history of the Tokugawa, the government found itself straitened for funds. The total revenue of the empire derived from land then amounted to 30,000,000 _koku_, of which 23,000,000 _koku_ belonged to the feudal barons, and 3,000,000 _koku_ to the bannerets, shrines, and temples, the remaining 4,000,000 representing the income of the government. Of this last named sum, 1,400,000 _koku_ were absorbed by the shōgun's household, a paltry sum of 150,000 being considered sufficient for the maintenance of the sovereign, the payment of the civil nobles' allowances, and the other expenses of the court in Kyōto. The method of taxation varied according to provinces, but the general rule was that the government, or the feudal lord, took forty per cent., and the cultivator sixty per cent., of the gross produce. In the early years of the shōgunate large reserves of money were accumulated by Iyeyasu, Hidetada, and Iyemitsu, but Tsunayoshi expended the whole, and found himself reduced to considerable straits. Yoshiyasu prevailed upon him to adopt a scheme proposed by one Hagiwara Shigehide, namely, the issue of a debased currency. The coins issued in the early years of the Tokugawa, namely, the _Keichō-kingin_ (gold and silver of the Keichō era), were very pure, but in the recoinage of Tsunayoshi, gold was alloyed with silver and copper, and copper with lead and tin, so that the cost of the coins was below their face value. Many hundreds of thousands of _ryō_ were obtained by this device, and thereby the embarrassed finances of the shōgun seemed to have resumed their normal state. But the evils incidental to currency debasement did not fail to ensue. Prices appreciated suddenly and counterfeiting took place on a large scale. Subsequently, however, the government corrected these abuses by restoring the currency to its pristine purity, and substituting administrative economy for false finance. The bad example once set by the shōgun, however, was followed by the feudal barons long after he had mended his ways, for they, also, finding themselves in an impecunious state, began to issue fiat paper money, _hansatsu_, for circulation within their own fiefs. It is a point well worthy of the attention of students of history, that from the time of their accession to power until the day of their downfall, the Tokugawa shōguns never resorted to the device of issuing fiduciary notes.