Dictionary — ontologydriven

koban en · NOUN · etymology 1

Borrowed from Japanese 小判(こばん) (koban).

An oval gold coin in the Edo period of feudal Japan.
- “Shall we say two koban for this evening—a measure of my desire to please a Lady of such merit?” 1975, James Clavell, Shōgun: A Novel of Japan, volume 2, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum, page 620:
- It contained, as usual, nothing but an invitation to come to Edo to confer on matters respecting which it did not enter into any particulars, with an offer of three koban for the expenses of the journey. 2006, Timon Screech, Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 140:
- Every landlord hath two koban paid him for dinner, and three for supper and lodgings at night. 1906, Ernest W[ilson] Clement, editor, Hildreth’s “Japan as it Was and Is”: A Handbook of Old Japan, volume II, Chicago, Ill.: A. C. McClurg & Co., page 40:

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
koban	Number=Plur		lexicographic
coebang		alternative	lexicographic
kobang		alternative	lexicographic
kobans	Number=Plur		lexicographic
cobang		alternative	lexicographic

Borrowed from Japanese 交番(こうばん) (kōban).

A small community police office or a police box, especially one in Japan.
- Personnel of kobans change each shift; they report for duty at a police station and fan out to the kobans. 1976, David H. Bayley, Forces of Order: Police Behavior in Japan and the United States, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, published 1978, →ISBN, page 13:

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
koban	Number=Plur		lexicographic
kobans	Number=Plur		lexicographic