I'm looking through the pdf and I can't actually see one. How many bu or zeni is a koku worth? How many koku will an average heimin earn over the course of their life? As someone just coming in to the world this is important stuff.

55 minutes ago, Norgrath said:

I'm looking through the pdf and I can't actually see one. How many bu or zeni is a koku worth? How many koku will an average heimin earn over the course of their life? As someone just coming in to the world this is important stuff.

I was thinking this exact thought earlier today.

All editions have (1 Koku = 5 Ichibukin or “Bu” = 50 Zeni). Ichibukin is the formal name of the silver coin but Bu is the common name.

I would go with the above.

One slight correction: The Rokugan book for the D&D Oriental Adventures had 100 Zeni per Koku instead of 50.

6 hours ago, Torg Smith said:

All editions have (1 Koku = 5 Ichibukin or “Bu” = 50 Zeni). Ichibukin is the formal name of the silver coin but Bu is the common name.

I would go with the above.

One slight correction: The Rokugan book for the D&D Oriental Adventures had 100 Zeni per Koku instead of 50.

Thanks for letting us know. Still needs to be in the rulebook though.

1st ed AD&D Oriental Adventures had 1 Koku = 5 ch'ien = 50 Tael/ch'ao.

Which has no bearing whatsoever on the discussion. Except to highlight that currency conversion charts ought to exist.

On 10/7/2017 at 6:15 AM, Torg Smith said:

All editions have (1 Koku = 5 Ichibukin or “Bu” = 50 Zeni). Ichibukin is the formal name of the silver coin but Bu is the common name.

I would go with the above.

One slight correction: The Rokugan book for the D&D Oriental Adventures had 100 Zeni per Koku instead of 50.

It would be nice for it to match some historic period's coinage.

I honestly prefer the idea that the standard gold coins is a ryō worth 2 koku, just to match the pre-shogunate and tokugawa era 1:10:100 Gold:Silver:Silver+Bronze coins... with the silver Bu being the Ichibuban and being set worth a bushel of rice...

I'll note that prices of 20 zeni arepossibly indicative of a different rate - perhaps a 25 or 50 zeni to the bu, or heaven forbid, a historic brass coin worth about 1/500 to 1/1000 of a koku...