1000 Yen - Heisei Mie

Part of Japan's 47 Prefectures Coin Program, a government initiative launched in 2008 to issue commemorative silver pieces for each of Japan's prefectures in rotating annual batches. Mie Prefecture's selection for the 2014 release reflects the program's systematic geographic rotation rather than any particular anniversary or event. Mie is home to the Grand Shrine of Ise, the most sacred site in Shinto, which underwent its 62nd Shikinen Sengu — a ritual rebuilding of the shrine structures conducted every 20 years — in 2013, lending the timing some cultural resonance.