What Does Biting a Gold Coin Signify In Japanese Lore or Culture?

5 comments

1. It’s not a Japanese thing.

   Gold is a very soft metal, so much so that pure gold can be bitten and dented fairly easily. Biting a coin is to test the purity of the coin to ensure you’re not being paid with a fake/less pure coin.

2. It’s not a Japanese thing. Gold is soft enough to leave tooth marks on and people bit gold coins to make sure they were real.

3. Yes, biting gold is often used to check for purity in older times.
   But in this context, might be a stretch and someone has to look it up properly, but currently there is an anime airing about Revenge. People biting a gold coin to engrave their grudge. Maybe your samurai did the same. Engraving a will with it in the coin.

4. To add to what others have already said. A great example of it happening outside of Japanese culture is Olympic gold medalists pretending to bite their gold medal.

5. Soft metal. Makes imprint. You can’t test the legitimacy of the hold and also ‘mark’ it with your personal dental imprint.