Komekitte
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Komekitte (米切手) aka: kuramaikitte (蔵米切手) refer to certificates of rice storage that were issued by clans in Japan during the Edo period.[1]
During the Kanbun era (1661–1673) the only financial facilities open to various daimyo was a system known as Kakeya (かけや).[2] This name derived from making a deposit of money known as Kakeku with certain financial houses.[2] As almost all of the prominent merchants tried to act as kakeya to the daimyo, this system greatly benefited the ruling shogunate.[2] The main function of a Kakeya was to act as an agent in the sale of his patron's rice and other products of the daimyo's fiefs.[2] A method of sale was adopted by the Kakeya where rice was sent to storehouses (usually in Osaka), where bids were called by posting notices with a fixed date on the storehouse gates. When the Kakeya opened the tenders at the stores on the given date they posted the result of their decisions with the names of the successful bidders. The winning bidders upon seeing the notice then paid the kakeya earnest money (shiki-gin), their merchant's seal was affixed on the official books, and a receipt (gin-kittle) was given in return.[2] Any given merchant was given up to ten days to hand in all of the remaining deposit money or else they defaulted and were barred from future bids.[2][3]
