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1 Yen 'Daikoku'
| Issuer | Bank of Japan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1885 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Yen (1871-date) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 1 叁八四五貮 號五第 壹 券銀換兌行銀本日 圓 壹 日 本 候可相壹銀へ引此 銀 也申渡圓貨尓か券 行 文書局長 NIPPON GINKO Promises to Pay the Bearer on Demand 1 Yen in Silver モテ例換第太五明 ノ發ヲ銀十政月治 也行遵行八官廿十 ス奉券號布六七 ルシ條兑告日年 行銀本日 章之裁總 壹 號五第 叁八四五貮 1 造幣局刷印省藏大府政國帝本日大 (Translation: 1 One Bank of Japan convertible silver note One yen Bank of Japan This note can be exchanged for one yen in silver. Director of Document Department These are issued in compliance with the provisions of the Ordinance of the Grand Council of State No. 18 of May 26th, year 17 of Meiji (1884) on convertible banknotes. Bank of Japan Seal of Governor One 1 Empire of Japan Government Ministry of Finance Printing Bureau) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | NIPPON GINKO 壹 例條券行銀換兌 各刑變銀 本法造行 處條偽ニ券兌 1 断ニ造係ノ換 YEN ス照紙ル偽 シ幣罪造 テノハ 金 圓 庫 局 長 (Translation: One Convertible banknote law The crime of altering and reproducing a convertible banknote shall be dealt with in accordance with this article of the Penal Code. Yen Director of treasury) |
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| Comments |
Japan's first domestically engraved banknote series, the 1885 convertible notes marked the point at which the Bank of Japan stopped relying on foreign printers entirely. Chiossone, a Genoese engraver hired by the Meiji government in 1875, had spent a decade training Japanese craftsmen at the Imperial Printing Bureau — this note is partly the product of that transfer of knowledge, with Chiossone himself cutting the plates.
The paper formula is unusual: mitsumata bast fiber combined with konjac powder, a composition developed specifically to resist counterfeiting by making the paper nearly impossible to replicate with materials available outside Japan at the time.