ryō

The was a gold currency unit in the shakkanhō system in pre-Meiji Japan. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the yen.

==Origins== The ryō was originally a unit of weight from China, the tael. It came into use in Japan during the Kamakura period. By the Azuchi–Momoyama period it had become nearly uniform throughout Japan, about 4.4 monme as a unit of weight (about the same as 16.5 grams).