From the 16th century; local currencies started to be made in Japan; with the minting of local coins; sometimes in gold. The Takeda clan of Koshu minted gold coins which were later adopted by the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Hideyoshi unified Japan; and thus centralized most of the minting of large denomination silver and gold coins; effectively putting in place the basis of a unified currency system. Hideyoshi developed the large Oban plate; also called the Tensho Oban; in 1588; a predecessor to Tokugawa gold coinage.

A common practice in that period was also to melt gold into copper molds for convenience; derived from the sycee manufacturing method. These were called Bundokin; of which there were two types; the small Kobundo and the large Obundo. A Kobundo would represent about 373g in gold.