Whether "Silver Certificate" accurately describes this type of Japanese bill or not, it seems to have served a similar purpose. The reverse explicitly states that the holder can cash it in for "One Yen in Silver." To drive the point home further, it includes a picture of the reverse of a 1 Yen coin of the time (one of my favorite coins, minted up to 1914, pictured further below). The text beneath the portrait reads "武内大臣" (this era of Japanese read right to left) or "Takenouchi no Sukune," a "legendary minister" to several Japanese emperors from 214 - 158 BCE. His image appears on many other older Japanese banknotes. This is the first certified bill that I've ever purchased and I'm wondering if the waviness of the surface is "normal" or expected. It didn't really show up in the dealer's photos. I photographed it to help bring out and emphasize the waves somewhat, but they are far less noticeable in hand. I bought it from a reputable site, so I'm guessing that it's somewhat expected. Someone on this forum mentioned a while ago that printing older US bills involved water, so some waviness inevitably resulted. I don't know if that holds true for Japanese bills or not. For those who haven't seen one before, here is one of the coins depicted on the back of the bill - a 1 Yen from 1914. Nothing against the bill, but I would likely pick the coin if asked to choose between the two.
I like the bank note. The Arabic numerals caught me by surprise. I had to look up when Admiral Perry "opened" up Japan. Since that was in 1853 the Arabic numerals therefore made sense.
