Japan obsolete coin types from the Meiji, Taisho and Showa Eras

Eidolon - I wished you did further research about the machine struck Korean Empire coins. I've written a couple of posts about it. In 1905 coins were struck in Osaka, Japan and it was given that it had to have similar theme. Korea no longer was an empire as it became a Japanese protectorate and in 1910 became a colony.

I do not understand where the Russian denomination come from.The original denomination is mun in 1888. Whan, yang, fun were used from 1892 to 1902. Under the Japanese protectorate it became won and chon.

If you are talking about the Russian inspired Korean coin, there are some excessive rare coins issued. This is a given as the Russo Korean bank was only opened for a week. Most coins were culled by the Japanese.

As far as research goes, planchets and machinery in Korea were imported from Japan.

 

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@gxseries: I'm not sure I follow you.

I was speaking of Russian political domination, not the denomination of the coins.

As far as I know, Korea was a vassal state to Imperial China since ancient times. After the Sino-Japanese War (1894-5) with the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Korea became fully independent from China. Japan used its victory against China as a starting point to interfere more and more in Korea. The Korean ruling dynasty was declared an Empire in 1897 to reflect this independence, and to put the royal family on a (nominally) equal footing to the Emperors of China or Japan.

Korea turned to Tsarist Russia as a counterweight to Japan in the period between 1895 and 1905. I don't know all the messy political details, but I believed Japanese agents assassinated the Korean Empress in 1895 as she was too effective in pursuing Korean interests which diverged from Japan's. There was a huge backlash.

I knew about the Russian-influenced Korean coins, and that they were extremely rare (and thus not economically significant). With Russia's loss in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), Korea fell strongly under Japanese influence. At the time of the Korean 1/2 Chon coin mentioned earlier (1906), the Korean Emperor was still ruling, at least in name. Japan did not fully annex Korea until 1910, as you mentioned.

Thanks for the info on the striking of the coin in Osaka. I suspected they were engraved and minted in Japan, but didn't know any details.

 

Part 13: Occupation Coinage
Here's the last of the photos from the "junk bin" Japan collection
From Top L:
Manchukuo 5 fen, Kangde 9 (1942)
Manchukuo 5 fen, Kangde 4 (1937)
Manchukuo 1 chiao, Kangde 7 (1940)
Manchukuo 1 chiao, Kangde 7-10 (1940-3), date unreadable
Manchukuo 1 chiao, Kangde 1 (1934)
Manchukuo 1 fen, Datong 3 (1934)
Provisional Government of China 1 chiao, Year 30 (1941)
Korea (under Japan) 1/2 chon, Guangmu 10 (1906) (shown in the earlier post)
I haven't even tried to be consistent with the transliteration of Chinese words.
For example 1 chiao = 1 jiao = 壹角


Hope that these have been an enjoyable detour through history. If my region ever reopens I'll try to post if I pick up anything new and interesting for these topics, but that's all I have for now. Please feel free to post your own coins too!

Northeast Asian history is of particular interest to me because my wife was raised by members of the older generation, who lived through some of these events firsthand. She is of part Manchurian ancestry.

 

I live in Japan, and I picked up 2 of these "Modern" Japanese presentation cards, at a market. The last coins are only up to 1945, so I assume that this set may have been created in the late 1940's of 1950's.



I've started replacing the coins with better examples. They had another 2 of these, and I probably should have bought the lot, as they were only 1500 yen ($14 USD, 13 EURO) each.

 

Dang, just seeing this post, but awesome. I have lots of Japanese coins, but too lazy to put any order to them.

 

I love how the Meiji Era falls under modern coinage! I guess anything post-Tokugawa counts.

I found one more puppet states coin mixed in with my Republic of China stuff.
It's a 10 Fen of the "Reformed" Republic of China, Year 29 = 1940. It was a Japanese puppet state from 1938-1940 which included Shanghai. It was merged with the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in 1940 to form the "Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China" under Wang Jingwei.

 

Gasp, the horror!!

Yep, basically the monetary reformation after the Meiji ascension. Standardizing units and content, and making more feasible for trade (like how on the 1 yen silver coin the weight and fineness were added, as well as the denominations in Western script). Modern = reformation, Current are for those of the current (post WWII constitution) government. So even some 'current' coins are obsolete. Current does not equate to still circulating.