Found Japanese Booty of the Copper Kind
Tuesday, July 16th, 2013
While combing the beach in Okitsu for broken bits of celadon and bits of pottery with blue glazes I came across a rather odd little circular object. When I first spied it the disk in the sand I thought it was a washer from one of the fishing boats that dock on both ends of the beach.
I reached over and picked it up, to next think that I had found a modern 5 yen coin that someone had dropped in the water and had tarnished. Part of the disk was missing, and the hole in the middle was square. I thought that was a bit odd because modern five yen coins have a round hole, and have the look more off brass rather than copper.
I showed it to some of my mates back at are BBQ area and they said I had found a bit of Japanese treasure. After doing a little digging around on the internet, I can determine that the coin is at least pre-Meiji era (1868). it is most likely from Edo era (1603-1868).
I have beach combed in Florida for years always dreaming of finding a little piece of pirate booty, only to travel halfway around the world to find a piece of Japanese treasure.