Japanese numismatic charm

Japanese coin-like amulets on display at the Museum of Ethnography, Sweden.

Japanese numismatic charms (Japanese: 絵銭 or 画銭), also known as Japanese amulets, Japanese talismans, or simply Japanese charms, refer to a family of cash coin-like and other numismatic inspired types of charms that like the Korean and Vietnamese variants are derived from Chinese numismatic charms (also referred to as Yansheng coins or huāqián), but have evolved around the customs of the Japanese culture. Although most of these charms resemble Japanese cash coins and the amulet coins of China, they contain their own categories unique to Japan.

Kokuji charms

Japanese numismatic charms can include characters never used on any official coins such as Kokuji, which is a national script unique to Japan similar to Gukja in Korea or Chữ Nôm in Vietnam, these charms were usually given by village elders to soldiers when they left to fight in the Second Sino-Japanese war and World War II, currently these charms are being used by travellers for supposed protection and are usually sold by shops at shrines.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Japanese numismatic Buddhist charms

Japanese numismatic Buddhist charms are Buddhist charms often shaped like cash coins and bear inscriptions asking various figures from the Buddhist faith for blessings or protection, these inscriptions typically have a legend like "大佛鐮倉" ("(The) Great Buddha of Kamakura").^[6] The Buddhist "且空藏棄" Japanese numismatic charm cast during the years 1736-1740 in Japan during the Tokugawa shogunate dedicated to the Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva based on one of the favourite mantras of Kūkai is frequently found in China. Ākāśagarbha one of the 8 immortals who attempts to free people from the cycle of reincarnation with compassion. These coins were brought to China in large numbers by Japanese Buddhist monks, another Japanese Buddhist charm frequently found in China has the inscription "南無阿彌陀佛" ("I put my trust in (the) Amitābha Buddha").^[7][8][9]

Other categories of Japanese numismatic charms

• Open-work charm

References

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