I've been doing a lot of reading up lately. I have a note here that I think I know what it is, but I am not sure. This looks like a so-called "Japanese Military Yen", 10 Yen note? Right? Or wrong? Regards, Christine
The design. Series 1 was released in 1937. It was similar in design to earlier (1905) military issues for Japan. Series 2 and 3 were overprinted on Bank of Japan notes. Series 4 is your design with 11 characters in the heading on the face. Series 5 is similar to Series 4 with a 7 character heading.
Translation: Great Japan Imperial Government For Military Translation: Great Japan Imperial Government The first three characters (right to left): Dai Ni Hon, meaning Great Japan, are used on all pre-occupation Japanese coins and notes. Dai was dropped at the beginning of the MacArthur era.
Nice notes... have a few myself. Debated with myself as to whether I should classify them as Japanese or Chinese... eventually settled on attributing them to China under the justification that at the time, the Japanese government was the de facto ruler of China, and these notes were meant to be used by the general public in China (correct?). Anyway love the dragons on them! I have an example of the same 10 yen note the OP posted: http://www.banknotebank.com/coin_view_enlarge.aspx?id=922290 Plus the 50 sen: http://www.banknotebank.com/coin_view_enlarge.aspx?id=919694 And just arrived today, the 10 sen (in unicrculated!): http://www.banknotebank.com/coin_view_enlarge.aspx?id=922550
