I just got some of my Japanese coins posted up from my collection, and something struck me that I never noticed before... When they changed from the Sen to Yen, did they reverse the legend? http://www.rickscoinstop.com/MiscWorld_Japan.htm I have to translate the legend to chinese, which I know, so - in the Sen, reading from left to right, on the 1899 20 Sen example, it should read: tien er shi san (don't know the characters for the ruler, but I know from Krause it is Meiji). which is the 32nd year of the Meiji Then in the Yen example, it seems to reverse. Should the year be read from right to left? which would make that coin the 32nd year of the Showa, or should it just be read differently from left to right, in which that piece should be the 23rd year?
Yes, they did reverse it. I was scratching my head some time ago when I saw a coin from the 93nd year of Hirohito (Showa)... That would make it 2018! A "back from the future" coin! Well, it was 39 year, or 1964: the order has changed to be left to right. However, the structure remains the same: starts with emperor name, then the numbers, and the character for "year" at the end.
Hey Notoco! Thanks for the information. So if I understand what you are saying, my coin is actually year 23 and not 32?
Hi Rick. As Notoco said, early in the Showa era they did change the legends from the traditional Asian language right-to-left, to the western style left-to-right. You will notice that the characters "Dai Ni Hon" ("Great Japan") and the denomination also reversed directions. However, that has nothing to do with any "change" from sen to yen. When the Meiji Emperor introduced modern cast coinage in the third year of his reign (1870), the new denominations of yen, sen and rin were also created, with the yen equal to 100 sen and 1,000 rin. At that time the yen was roughly equivalent to a U.S. dollar, both in silver weight and trade value. 1 Rin coins were last minted for circulation in 1884, and 5 Rin cons were only minted from 1916-19. The close of World War II brought the end of Sen denomination coins, except for 50 Sen, which continued to be minted until 1948, and could still be found in circulation in 1954 when I first went to Japan. Prior to World War II gold ¥5 and ¥10 coins were the largest denominations in circulation. Since then the ¥50, ¥100 and ¥500 coins have come along; with ¥1,000 and ¥5,000 circulating commemoratives appearing since 1964. Non-circulating commemorative and proof coins in ¥10,000, ¥50,000 and ¥100,000 denominations have also been issued.
Yes, the last coin on the rickcoinstop page described as 1957 (32 Showa) is 23 year of Hirohito (Showa), or 1948 if I count correctly.
Rick - just remember that the character for year, which is rendered in Japanese as "nen", is always the last character of the date.
Got it. Thanks for everyone's help. That one threw me for a loop. I had it right on the flip, but it wasn't until yesterday that I actually compared it with older examples. That got me to thinking I had it all wrong. Moving to a western format could be seen as a telling change for the Japanese culture, represented right there on their coins... I wonder how the adjustment was received by the people, at the time. I've read fictional books set in this time period that indicated that Japan was going through something of an identity crisis - with tradition having it out with innovation. - not to say the crisis was fictional, just the story I was reading. Could this rightly be described as one of those times when you can spot a major culture adjustment on their monetary system, or am I reading too much into it?
Also... Roy, you were in Japan in 1954? Wasn't that still considered fairly recent to the unfortunate event? If you don't mind me asking, what brought you to Japan at this time - military?
In 1950-53 there was a little dustup on the west side of the Sea of Japan, referred to at the time as a "Police Action", that required a bunch of us to do some traveling at the expense of yours and my mutual uncle. I got sidetracked to Tokyo, and spent nearly two years there, starting a few months after the formal end of the Occupation, with just a short few months in Seoul. Luckiest thing that ever happened to me - allowed me to meet the Beautiful Bride, so I could start planning my 50th anniversary cruise for this summer. And, to bring this thread and posting back to coins - that's when I first learned enough Japanese to be able read dates and such on coins.
Absolutely. In 1948, when the changeover occurred, the Emperor, and the people, were still dealing with the realization that he was not divine, and that their temporary true "sovereign" was a corncob pipe smoking American General who made Patton look like a pussycat.
