Help with translation

Hello,

need help with translating this text on the bottom of a box.



Thanks a lot for your help!

明治七歳 Meiji shichi nen
一月吉日 Ichigatsu kichijitsu
秋葉佐右衛門 Akiba Saemon
新調之 Shinchō kore

Akiba Saemon acquired this in Meiji 7, January.

Meiji 7 = 1874

Oh thanks a lot for a quick translation guys..
Wow, so it's actually from early Meiji period, 1874! Is that a usual way of writing the year? Calculating from the start of the era and adding the written number? So Meiji 20 would be 1888?

Also, in the meantime I was cleaning the chest a little bit and found these papers "hidden" behind the drawer:




Are you familiar with such documents? Some kind of a financial bond I guess. Seems people auction them, this one seems the same as the one I got:


It seems the documents are from the 1920. Any ideas on what they are and why would a person own them?

Thank a lot for the help, I'm always fascinated with the surprises these Tansu boxes hold.

Luka0101 said:

Is that a usual way of writing the year? Calculating from the start of the era and adding the written number?

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Yes.

Luka0101 said:

So Meiji 20 would be 1888?

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Mieji 20 is 1887.

Luka0101 said:

Some kind of a financial bond I guess.

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Right. As written in English, those are debenture bonds.

Luka0101 said:

It seems the documents are from the 1920.

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The upper one is Taishō 9, i.e., 1920, and the lower is Meiji 40, i.e., 1907.

Luka0101 said:

Any ideas on what they are and why would a person own them?

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For investment/money management, most likely.

Toritoribe said:

Mieji 20 is 1887.

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Thanks a lot for the answers Toritoribe! Obviously I gotta work on my math!