About one hundred years has passed since the Japanese economic system changed from feudalism to capitalism. In the Edo Era (the feudal period), there were native (non-Western) Japanese bookkeeping systems. When the Meiji Era (modern capitalism) came, the form and principle of double-entry bookkeeping was introduced and generalized. The essence of the latter is much the same as that of West-European bookkeeping. Native Japanese bookkeeping is not necessarily double-entry bookkeeping while modern Japanese methods are based on double-entry bookkeeping history.