50 Yen

Japan's Meiji government contracted Dondorf & Naumann of Frankfurt to produce this note because no domestic capability existed yet to print secure currency at scale. Chiossone — the Genoese engraver who had worked for the American Bank Note Company before being recruited to Japan — handled both the design and engraving, an unusual consolidation of roles that reflects how tightly the Meiji officials supervised the project from a distance.

The Daijo-kan, the Grand Council of State, was dissolved in 1885. Notes issued under its authority were effectively relics of an administrative structure that no longer existed well before most of them left circulation.