5 Silver Yen

The Bank of Japan's earliest note issues were printed domestically after the government made a deliberate political decision to end reliance on German and Italian printers who had produced the preceding convertible note series. The Kobayashi Shinbundo bureau — later reorganized as the Tokyo Printing Bureau — was developing its intaglio capabilities through the late 1880s, and this note sits within that transitional production period.

Convertibility to silver was suspended in 1917, but in 1888 that promise was real. The "Silver Yen" designation was not decorative — holders could legally demand specie at the counter.