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Message:: [QUOTE="ewomack, post: 1254930, member: 15588"]I don't know a lot about Japanese coins, but I can read some simple Japanese. On the obverse:大 - usually pronounced "dai" or "die" and typically means "large" - it probably means "empire" in this context (does anyone know?)日本 - pronounced "nee-hone" means Japan - every Japanese coin I've seen (so far) includes these characters明治 - these are the characters for the Meiji Era under Emperor Mutsuhito that ran from 1868 - 1912 - pronounced approximately "May-jee"三十二 - this is the Kanji for 32 pronounced "san-juu-ni" san = 3; juu = 10 (3 X 10); ni = 2 so (3 X 10) + 2 = 32The last symbol looks like an archaic symbol for year, which today looks like this: 年 and is pronounced "nen" or "toshi" depending on the context - I think it would be "nen" here. So, going clockwise from the bottom it reads "Large Japan" (I'm guessing this means Japanese Empire or something to that effect) - Meiji Era 32nd year. On the reverse:五 - the Kanji for "five" usually pronounced "Go"The second very complicated symbol also looks archaic, but must mean "Sen" - I'd have to look it up to verify.[/QUOTE]