Catalog
1000 Yen
| Issuer | Bank of Japan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Yen (1871-date) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 1000 878616 {7} 1000 券換究行銀本日 相此 日 千 渡券 本 圓 可引 銀 申換 行 候に 金 貨 千 圓 千 {7} 878616 千 造幣局刷印閣内 (Translation: Bank of Japan convertible note Bank of Japan One thousand yen This bill can be exchanged for one thousand yen in gold. Printed by the cabinet printing bureau) |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Japan's wartime fiscal situation by 1945 was catastrophic — military expenditure had obliterated any meaningful backing for the currency, and the Bank of Japan was issuing notes largely to paper over a collapsing economy. This high-denomination 1000 Yen was part of that emergency expansion of the money supply in the war's final year.
The Allied occupation authorities declared all wartime notes issued before August 1945 subject to exchange controls, and a 1946 new yen conversion effectively wiped out holders of large-denomination notes through a punishing cap on convertible amounts. The 1000 Yen notes bore the heaviest losses.