Catalog
1 Yen
| Issuer | Imperial Japanese Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | At left, a vignette of an onagadori long-tailed cockerel in flight is set against a lightly printed floral underprint occupying the right portion of the field. The Imperial chrysanthemum seal is positioned at top centre, flanked by vertical Japanese inscriptions reading 大日本帝國政府; the kanji denomination 壹圓 appears centrally, with a red official seal at lower left and the printer's imprint along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Two large guilloche rosette panels flank a central rectangular text block bearing a Chinese-language anti-counterfeiting warning inscription. The kanji denomination 壹圓 is enclosed within a guilloche border at left, while the numeral '1' and romanised legend 'YEN' appear at right; the entire design is printed in a single dark brown ink on plain paper. |
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| Comments |
The M-series designation separates this note from civilian issues — P#M2 belongs to the military payment series produced for Japanese forces operating in occupied territories across the Pacific and Southeast Asia. These notes were printed domestically but intended to absorb local currency and resources in occupied regions, effectively converting real goods into paper obligations backed by nothing beyond Japanese military authority.
Counterfeiting by Allied forces was a documented concern. The U.S. Office of Strategic Services and British agencies both produced forged Japanese military currency during the war to destabilize occupied economies, and the simplicity of these lower-denomination notes made them easier targets than the more elaborate civilian series.