金銭支出帳 Kinsen shishutsuchō

Tracing daily life and cultural shifts through a Meiji ledger

This type of document is referred to as a 大福帳 (daifukuchō), a type of ledger commonly used in Edo (1601-1868) and Meiji periods. The cover is marked in strong, deliberate brushstrokes with the title "金銭支出帳", which in English translates to “Record of Expenditures”.

Measuring 335 mm by 120 mm and 24 mm thick, the book feels substantial, made of mulberry fibre washi paper that remains remarkably intact. On the cover, there are two deep creases that hint at its regular use. The one near the mouth of the pad suggests a diligent hand bending it so as to easily find certain pages. The second crease which is near the binding at the spine, likely formed as the thick pages were pressed down into a workable flat surface.

The ledger cover is also inscribed with the date: "37^th year of Meiji, first month". According to the Japanese imperial calendar, the Meiji Era began in 1868, which is counted as the first year. The 37^th year would be 1904. Japan follows a lunar calendar, so the “first month” does not necessarily correspond with January. This ledger was used for longer than initially intended, as the user has written the Japanese characters “eight” and “nine” beside the “seven” of the “37^th year”. So the ledger was used for 3 years, until year 1906.

When opened, the recorded transactions can be read from right to left, top to bottom. Perusing the transactions paints the picture of a family who ate fish, wore socks, smoked tobacco, drank sake and visited the hairdressers. Records also show donations being made, confirming that this family followed the widespread custom of visiting temples on New Year's Day.

This ledger bears witness to the profound socio-cultural shifts of the era, such as the documentation of steam train journeys. The steam train (kisha) was first officially implemented as a form of transportation in the 1870s when British civil engineer Edmund Morel oversaw its construction in Yokohama. The presence of these expenses in the ledger reflects the rapid modernisation and industrialisation that took place after centuries of isolationist policies (sakoku) that strictly limited interactions with the outside world throughout the preceding Edo period. The blending of traditional accounting methods with modern expenditures reflects the cultural juxtaposition of the time.