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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;krispy, post: 1920711, member: 19065&quot;]Ethan,</p><p><br /></p><p>Collecting world coins (even if just for appearance and saving on shipping) is a great way to combine the coin hobby with learning about other cultures and languages. Or if you&#039;re a language learner, it&#039;s a way to expand in the language on understanding a nation&#039;s currency, economic history and national symbolic imagery adding to your vocabulary and so on. Even if the coin is just visually appealing to you, it&#039;s still nice to know how to refer to it and what the devices signify.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are plenty of resources online, beyond Krause (or other) collector guide books, to expand on and help understand these things. Coin sites and forums are excellent. Many others are simple &quot;go to&quot; references and aren&#039;t necessarily coin related, such as Wikipedia where you can glean, for example <a href="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_era_name" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_era_name" rel="nofollow">Japanese era names</a><span style="color: #ff0000">*</span> (年号, <i>nengō,</i> &quot;year name&quot;) and how to read or interpret them, or about a specific period, such as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_period#Early_Meiji_period_.281868.E2.80.931877.29" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_period#Early_Meiji_period_.281868.E2.80.931877.29" rel="nofollow">Meiji period </a>(明治時代, &quot;<i>Meiji jidai</i>, &quot;Meiji period&quot;, = Enlightened rule, posthumous name given to the Emperor), about the ruler himself, Mutsuhito</p><p>( 1852–1912 ), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Meiji" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Meiji" rel="nofollow">Meiji Emperor </a>(明治天皇 Meiji-tennō) 122nd emperor of Japan</p><p>( 1867–1912 ), the <a href="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_period" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_period" rel="nofollow">politics of the era</a> (Wiki simple), when the capitol moved from Kyoto to Tokyo and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_currency#Birth_of_the_yen:_New_Currency_Act_.281871.29" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_currency#Birth_of_the_yen:_New_Currency_Act_.281871.29" rel="nofollow">Japan reestablished it&#039;s currency</a>, replacing the Tokugawa currency and going onto the international gold standard for the first time (a move to modern decimal coinage), the use of Latin alphabet and Arabic numerals on money for the first time, and when the nation started to become more open to Western trade and exposure to global culture, leaving behind it&#039;s sustained isolationist position and the old feudal system.</p><p><br /></p><p>While the references above may seem like overload, the essential information is there on the surface for understanding what the coin bears and provides you with more than a catalog number (KM#) and date. Even if language and culture acquisition isn&#039;t your goal, it&#039;s surprising how easy it is to pick up a lot about another language or culture just by getting to know how to read and identify the devices on coins and other kinds of currency.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve done this in my own pursuits and it has opened a lot of interesting avenues of research, reading on history and meeting others with great insights into the material because of it. I&#039;ve come to know many world coins which no longer seem &quot;foreign&quot; and in turn, I feel more comfortable with other languages, too.&nbsp; And, I&#039;m very much a <i>learner</i> when it comes to Japanese coins and currency!</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #0000b3"><i><b>BTW, the info posted earlier is all correct... </b></i></span></p><p><br /></p><p>Devices on the coin are read from right to left.&nbsp; Here is a breakdown with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji" rel="nofollow">kanji </a>(Chinese characters), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana" rel="nofollow">Hiragana</a> (syllabary reading of the characters), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanji" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanji" rel="nofollow">Romanji </a>(roman-ized reading) and English translations:</p><p><br /></p><p><b>大日本&nbsp; •&nbsp; 明治三 十一年&nbsp; •&nbsp; 五十銭&nbsp; </b>(Great Japan, Meiji 31 (1898) 50 sen)</p><p><br /></p><p>( <b>大日本</b> , だいにほん, &quot;dai nihon&quot; = Great Japan ) •</p><p><br /></p><p>( 明治, めいじ, &quot;Meiji&quot; = Ruler/Era name, Enlightened rule )</p><p><br /></p><p>( <b>三十一</b>,&nbsp; さんじゅういち, &quot;san jyu ichi&quot; = 31 )&nbsp;&nbsp; ( <b>年</b> , ねん, &quot;nen&quot; = year ) •</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;<b>50 sen&quot;</b>&nbsp;&nbsp; and&nbsp; ( <b>五十銭</b>:&nbsp; 五十, ごじゅう, &quot;go jyuu&quot; fifty /&nbsp; 銭, せん, &quot;sen&quot;&nbsp; <i>a former monetary measure, </i>the yen, divided into 100 sen = 1,000 rin.)</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i><span style="color: #0000b3">About the symbols on this coin...</span></i></b></p><p><br /></p><p>The stylized dragon is symbolic of the Emperor of Japan, even though it is derived from Chinese culture like many other things in Japanese culture. In coins this metaphorical Emperor is shown as a curled or coiled dragon hurling flames from its mouth. The orb is called a <i>tamashi</i> (treasure sphere), which is a special jewel said to contain supernatural power. Myth has it that if the dragon loses the <i>tamashi</i> it loses its supernatural power.</p><p><br /></p><p>The opposite side shows the floral symbol of the Imperial household, the chrysanthemum above and the paulownia wreath below. The paulownia continues to be used as a symbol that represents the government of Japan and the Prime Minister in modern times and in differing patterns on modern coins.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">*</span>BTW, I use a free App on my phone, &quot;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/gengou-free/id284830543?mt=8" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/gengou-free/id284830543?mt=8" rel="nofollow">Gengou Free</a>&quot; that assists in quick reference between traditional Japanese dating system to it&#039;s equivalent in the Western calendar dating system.</p><p><br /></p><p>Even though this thread is about Japanese coins, you certainly can apply the same approach to other coins and historical reference material when trying to sort out coin info.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m also looking for a nice copper 2 sen for my collection. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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