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Reading Japanese coins Reading and converting the dates, and understanding the issuing authority
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Reading the dates
At first glance trying to figure out the date on a Japanese coin can be a bit intimidating. Once a few things are understood--with a little bit of recognition for the unfamiliar characters--it makes sense. Eventually.
One needs to learn the specific kanji (Chinese character writing) for 4 eras (so far), the basic numbers for 1-10, and just a small handful of other symbols. Then, just put them together. And remember to read everything in the correct order, because that has changed over the years.
Also, this is very specific for the machined Meiji/post-Meiji era coinage. Pre-Meiji and currency has quite a bit more to it. A couple of the texts listed on the Japan overview page do an excellent job covering the pre-Meiji information.
One needs to learn the specific kanji (Chinese character writing) for 4 eras (so far), the basic numbers for 1-10, and just a small handful of other symbols. Then, just put them together. And remember to read everything in the correct order, because that has changed over the years.
Also, this is very specific for the machined Meiji/post-Meiji era coinage. Pre-Meiji and currency has quite a bit more to it. A couple of the texts listed on the Japan overview page do an excellent job covering the pre-Meiji information.
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Era Names
明治 Meiji 大正 Taisho 昭和 Showa 平成 Heisei |
Numbers
一 1 六 6 二 2 七 7 三 3 八 8 四 4 九 9 五 5 十 10 百 100 千 1,000 万 10,000 半 half |
Denominations
圓 or 円 yen 銭 sen 厘 rin Additional characters 年 ‘nen’ or year 元 ‘gan’ or first |
The first thing to understand about dating Japanese coins is that the dates are based on the era name, followed by the year of the era.
The use of the era system goes back over 1000 years. In the past the eras did not necessarily correlate with the Emperor's reign as they do today, thus current events or issues could play a part in the naming of a new era.
When Mutsuhito assumed the throne in 1867 it was the Keio era. This was changed to the Meiji era in 1868 and since then the ‘one reign/one era’ rule has been codified. In other words, a new era name will occur only upon the ascension of the next Emperor. Thus, since 1867 there have been four eras:
明治 Meiji (Mutsuhito) 1867-1912 (ascended 1867, Meiji era started 1868)
大正 Taisho (Yoshihito) 1912-1926
昭和 Showa (Hirohito) 1926-1989
平成 Heisei (Akihito) 1989-present
Each dated coin has a 2 kanji era name, followed by a numerical value designating the year, followed by the ‘nen’ 年 or year symbol.
Or, another way: Era Name + Era year + Nen
The regnal (era) years are correlated with the Gregorian calendar, but they are based on the named era. For example 1990 is the second year of the Heisei era, so Heisei 2 is 1990,
Heisei 3 is 1991,
Heisei 4 is 1992 etc.
With regards to the changing of the era name and coin dating, the first year of the era name change occurs immediately upon the ascension of the new Emperor. However, the first year of the era ends December 31st and the remainder years follow the Gregorian calendar. Thus (unless there is a death on December 31st) there is overlap between in one calendar year between the eras of the old and new Emperors.
On coinage this is seen by the utilization of the ‘gan nen’. The ‘gan’ refers to ‘first’ and the ‘nen’ to year. In 1912 it was both Meiji 45 (through July 30th, the death of the Emperor) and Taisho 1. The Taisho coins were thus designated 大正元年 , with the first two kanji representing the Taisho name and the second two referring to the first year (not using the 一 for '1'), followed by the year or nen kanji. 1913 was thus Taisho 2 (大正二年), starting January 1st.
(By the way, it is only after death that the Emperor is referred to by the name of the era. Also the use of his given name is also in poor taste and the Emperor really should be referred to by his title “His Imperial Majesty the Emperor”, or as ‘the current Emperor’).
The use of the era system goes back over 1000 years. In the past the eras did not necessarily correlate with the Emperor's reign as they do today, thus current events or issues could play a part in the naming of a new era.
When Mutsuhito assumed the throne in 1867 it was the Keio era. This was changed to the Meiji era in 1868 and since then the ‘one reign/one era’ rule has been codified. In other words, a new era name will occur only upon the ascension of the next Emperor. Thus, since 1867 there have been four eras:
明治 Meiji (Mutsuhito) 1867-1912 (ascended 1867, Meiji era started 1868)
大正 Taisho (Yoshihito) 1912-1926
昭和 Showa (Hirohito) 1926-1989
平成 Heisei (Akihito) 1989-present
Each dated coin has a 2 kanji era name, followed by a numerical value designating the year, followed by the ‘nen’ 年 or year symbol.
Or, another way: Era Name + Era year + Nen
The regnal (era) years are correlated with the Gregorian calendar, but they are based on the named era. For example 1990 is the second year of the Heisei era, so Heisei 2 is 1990,
Heisei 3 is 1991,
Heisei 4 is 1992 etc.
With regards to the changing of the era name and coin dating, the first year of the era name change occurs immediately upon the ascension of the new Emperor. However, the first year of the era ends December 31st and the remainder years follow the Gregorian calendar. Thus (unless there is a death on December 31st) there is overlap between in one calendar year between the eras of the old and new Emperors.
On coinage this is seen by the utilization of the ‘gan nen’. The ‘gan’ refers to ‘first’ and the ‘nen’ to year. In 1912 it was both Meiji 45 (through July 30th, the death of the Emperor) and Taisho 1. The Taisho coins were thus designated 大正元年 , with the first two kanji representing the Taisho name and the second two referring to the first year (not using the 一 for '1'), followed by the year or nen kanji. 1913 was thus Taisho 2 (大正二年), starting January 1st.
(By the way, it is only after death that the Emperor is referred to by the name of the era. Also the use of his given name is also in poor taste and the Emperor really should be referred to by his title “His Imperial Majesty the Emperor”, or as ‘the current Emperor’).
The next challenge is that the reading order for the dates has reversed over time.
Original Chinese kanji were not read in the Western tradition of left to right. The initial coinage followed that the coin dates and legends were read right to left. That is not to say the characters are mirrored, they are merely read in reverse order. Prior to Showa 23, right to left was correct. Beginning in Showa 23 (1948) the Western style of reading from left to right was adopted (with one exception).
Thus the reading order went from:
Nen---Era year----Era name kanji to Era name kanji---Era year---Nen
(c) <---- (b) <----------- (a) to (a) -----------> (b) -----> (c)
They both mean exactly the same thing, and the character order is the same "a b c"---it's just where you start and which way you move your eyes that change. Note, the era name has two characters and their order remains internally consistent as they are looked at as a unit.
Basically, look for the Nen/年 and you will know which way to read the coin’s date as the Nen/年 is always the last part of the date. Once you see it, you know where point (c) is (using the above graphic).
So in looking at an example:
年三治明 年 三 治明
(c) (b) (a)
(a)治明 is Meiji (and note the two characters, 治 and 明, remain in the same order, but are NOT mirrored)
(b) 三 is the number 3
(c) 年 is the year symbol nen
Another example using two Showa era dates:
年九和昭 年 九 和昭
(c) (b) (a)
(a) 和昭 is Showa read right to left
(b) 九 is the number 9
(c) 年 is the year symbol nen
OR
昭和四十五年 昭和 四十五 年
(a) (b) (c)
(a) 昭和 is Showa now read left to right. Reversed, not mirrored.
(b) 四十五 is the number 45 (trust me on this part for right now)
(c) 年 is the year symbol nen
Identifying the nen shows which way to do the reading, so the first is Showa 9, and the second is Showa 45. No matter what, (a) is followed by (b) which is followed by (c). The kanji themselves do not reverse or 'mirror' in appearance regardless of which way you are reading them.
Original Chinese kanji were not read in the Western tradition of left to right. The initial coinage followed that the coin dates and legends were read right to left. That is not to say the characters are mirrored, they are merely read in reverse order. Prior to Showa 23, right to left was correct. Beginning in Showa 23 (1948) the Western style of reading from left to right was adopted (with one exception).
Thus the reading order went from:
Nen---Era year----Era name kanji to Era name kanji---Era year---Nen
(c) <---- (b) <----------- (a) to (a) -----------> (b) -----> (c)
They both mean exactly the same thing, and the character order is the same "a b c"---it's just where you start and which way you move your eyes that change. Note, the era name has two characters and their order remains internally consistent as they are looked at as a unit.
Basically, look for the Nen/年 and you will know which way to read the coin’s date as the Nen/年 is always the last part of the date. Once you see it, you know where point (c) is (using the above graphic).
So in looking at an example:
年三治明 年 三 治明
(c) (b) (a)
(a)治明 is Meiji (and note the two characters, 治 and 明, remain in the same order, but are NOT mirrored)
(b) 三 is the number 3
(c) 年 is the year symbol nen
Another example using two Showa era dates:
年九和昭 年 九 和昭
(c) (b) (a)
(a) 和昭 is Showa read right to left
(b) 九 is the number 9
(c) 年 is the year symbol nen
OR
昭和四十五年 昭和 四十五 年
(a) (b) (c)
(a) 昭和 is Showa now read left to right. Reversed, not mirrored.
(b) 四十五 is the number 45 (trust me on this part for right now)
(c) 年 is the year symbol nen
Identifying the nen shows which way to do the reading, so the first is Showa 9, and the second is Showa 45. No matter what, (a) is followed by (b) which is followed by (c). The kanji themselves do not reverse or 'mirror' in appearance regardless of which way you are reading them.
Two visual examples
Reading right to left
(in a clockwise fashion)
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Reading left to right (in a linear fashion)
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Lastly, a word on the larger numbers as alluded to above. The writing of the numbers greater than 10 reminds me of the math that was being pushed on my sons when they were younger. (For the sake of this section all reading will be in the modern left to right mode, though you can see particularly why the nen location is critical. It is the difference between 45 and 54, or 12 and 21 and can be quite significant in terms of valuations).
五 is 5
十 is 10
十 五 is 15 the 10 character and the 5 character are put together as 10 + 5 (the plus sign, not the 10 symbol)
四十五 is 45 the 4 preceding the 10 means '4 tens' or 40, plus the 5, so (4x10)+5 = 45
A little more:
五百 is 500 the 5 character precedes the 100, so '5 hundreds' or (5x100) = 500
And another:
二千六百八十一 is 2681 2 thousands, 6 hundreds, 8 tens and 1, (2x1000) + (6x100) + (8x10) + 1 or 2681
二千 六百 八十 一
Who said common core math wasn't useful?
五 is 5
十 is 10
十 五 is 15 the 10 character and the 5 character are put together as 10 + 5 (the plus sign, not the 10 symbol)
四十五 is 45 the 4 preceding the 10 means '4 tens' or 40, plus the 5, so (4x10)+5 = 45
A little more:
五百 is 500 the 5 character precedes the 100, so '5 hundreds' or (5x100) = 500
And another:
二千六百八十一 is 2681 2 thousands, 6 hundreds, 8 tens and 1, (2x1000) + (6x100) + (8x10) + 1 or 2681
二千 六百 八十 一
Who said common core math wasn't useful?
Converting the Dates
Converting to the Gregorian calendar dates is simple if you remember a few facts (or just do what I do and keep my JNDA handy as it lists most coins by both systems).
Although Emperor Mutsuhito assumed the throne in 1867, the Meiji era did not start until 1868.
Knowing the Gregorian equivalent to the first regnal era year makes is the key. Look at the difference between the era years and add that difference to the corresponding Gregorian date of the first year.
Thus:
Although Emperor Mutsuhito assumed the throne in 1867, the Meiji era did not start until 1868.
Knowing the Gregorian equivalent to the first regnal era year makes is the key. Look at the difference between the era years and add that difference to the corresponding Gregorian date of the first year.
Thus:
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M1 = 1868 (first year of reign)
M45 = 1912 (last year of reign) T1 = 1912
T15 = 1926 S1 = 1926
S64 = 1989 H1 = 1989
ongoing |
The difference between the first and last years is 45 - 1, or 44 years. So 1868 + 44 = 1912.
Add 5 to T1 and 1912
so T6 is 1917 Emperor Hirohito passed away January 7th, 1989. Thus 1989 is both the last year of the Showa era (1926 +63) and the first year of the current Heisei era.
Even with the shortened era, there are year 64 dated coins (1,5 and 10 yen) for the Showa era which circulate alongside the coins of year one of the Heisei era. |
Issuing Authority
The first modern coins bore the inscription 本日大 "Dai Nippon" or "Great Japan" (reading the kanji from right to left).
After the conclusion of WWII the inscription changed to 府政本日 "Nippon seifu" or "Government of Japan" (reading right to left) which was used for a limited period of time after the war and prior to the formation of the new constitution and government.
The third and current inscription is 日本国 "Nippon koku" or "Country of Japan" (also reading left to right which is how it is on the coins). The use of this inscription corresponds (mostly) to the onset of designating the coins as 'current' in the cataloging system.
Google translate has been useful for these, but doesn't always get the right to left correct. Have also seen the translations as 'Big Japan' rather than 'Great Japan' and 'State of Japan' rather than 'Country of Japan', yet the meanings are congruent in translation.
After the conclusion of WWII the inscription changed to 府政本日 "Nippon seifu" or "Government of Japan" (reading right to left) which was used for a limited period of time after the war and prior to the formation of the new constitution and government.
The third and current inscription is 日本国 "Nippon koku" or "Country of Japan" (also reading left to right which is how it is on the coins). The use of this inscription corresponds (mostly) to the onset of designating the coins as 'current' in the cataloging system.
Google translate has been useful for these, but doesn't always get the right to left correct. Have also seen the translations as 'Big Japan' rather than 'Great Japan' and 'State of Japan' rather than 'Country of Japan', yet the meanings are congruent in translation.
Useful links
NGC pricing guide -- a reasonable source on finding ballpark figures. NGC does not recognize all varieties.
LionCoins.com -- this website is the original page I read to understand how to 'read' a Meiji/post Meiji coin. Excellent.
Fudewaza.net-- a calligraphy generator, which was very helpful in getting some of the characters rendered here.
Wikipedia.org-- the Japan listing contains an ever-so-brief history.
Google translate -- helpful mostly.
Numista, Japan page -- some good dating and symbol information, explained a bit differently which might be helpful.
Portland Coins -- another dating explanation. I find it useful to look at different sites as different approaches, graphics or examples may do the trick in making an unfamiliar topic (to a Western eye in this case) more easily comprehended.
LionCoins.com -- this website is the original page I read to understand how to 'read' a Meiji/post Meiji coin. Excellent.
Fudewaza.net-- a calligraphy generator, which was very helpful in getting some of the characters rendered here.
Wikipedia.org-- the Japan listing contains an ever-so-brief history.
Google translate -- helpful mostly.
Numista, Japan page -- some good dating and symbol information, explained a bit differently which might be helpful.
Portland Coins -- another dating explanation. I find it useful to look at different sites as different approaches, graphics or examples may do the trick in making an unfamiliar topic (to a Western eye in this case) more easily comprehended.