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Message:: [QUOTE="ewomack, post: 3223011, member: 15588"]Everything that Kurt said above is completely accurate. If you want more details, the date starts directly on the opposite side of the coin from "50 Sen." In that era, Japanese was read right-to-left, so the date begins with "明治" or "Meiji" for the reign of the Emperor Meiji (also known as "Mutsuhito"). The date then follows with "三十" or "San-juu" or 30 (san = 3, juu = 10, so 3 10s = 30) with a "九" or "kyuu" for 9 added on. It all ends with the Kanji for year, "年" pronounced "nen." So the entire date reads "明治三十九年" or "Meiji San-Juu Kyuu Nen" or the 39th year of the reign of Meiji or 1906. Remember to read this "backwards" on the coin, going clockwise. The other Kanji to the left of "50 Sen," "大日本," is pronounced "Dai-nihon" or "Great Japan," used by the Empire of Japan until the US occupation in the 1950s.[/QUOTE]