1 Yen 'Suihei'

The "Suihei" (水兵, "sailor") 1 Yen series was issued by the network of National Banks established under Japan's 1872 National Bank Act — a system modeled directly on the U.S. National Banking System, down to the numbered bank charters. The 73rd National Bank was one of roughly 150 such institutions authorized during the Meiji government's aggressive push to build a Western-style commercial banking infrastructure almost overnight.

Chiossone, a Genoese engraver brought to Japan in 1875 to modernize the Imperial Printing Bureau's intaglio capabilities, cut this plate entirely in-house — a deliberate break from the earlier practice of sending designs abroad to foreign printers. The Diplomorpha sikokiana fiber in the paper stock was a specifically Japanese solution to counterfeiting, the plant being virtually unobtainable outside the country.