Catalog
5 Yen
| Issuer | Bank of Japan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Yen |
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| Obverse description | Dark brown intaglio print on green guilloche underprint, without a central vignette. The denomination 五圓 (Five Yen) is rendered in large Chinese characters within an elaborate diamond-shaped guilloche panel at centre, flanked by green rosette underprint elements. The imperial chrysanthemum seal appears in the upper right corner, two red circular Bank of Japan seals are positioned in the lower half, and the issuer inscription 日本銀行券 (Bank of Japan Note) runs across the upper field alongside the alphanumeric serial number repeated twice. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 5 Yen 券行銀本日五 5 圓 五 5 (Translation: Bank of Japan note Five yen) |
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| Comments |
Japan's postwar currency situation in 1946 was chaotic. The government enacted the Emergency Financial Measures Ordinance in February of that year, freezing existing deposits and mandating the exchange of old notes for new ones — this 5 Yen was part of the flood of issues rushed out to meet that demand. Print quality across the series suffers noticeably as a result; the wartime degradation of Japanese printing infrastructure had not yet recovered.
At just over twelve million printed, this is not a rare note, but heavily circulated examples in collectible condition are harder to find than the mintage suggests — the postwar exchange program burned through paper quickly.