5 Yen - Meiji small type

Introduced under the New Currency Act of 1871, which abolished the chaotic domain-issued coinage of the Tokugawa period and anchored the new yen to a bimetallic standard, this piece was Japan's first domestically produced machine-struck gold coinage. The Osaka Mint, inaugurated that same year with equipment and technical staff sourced largely from Britain, handled production throughout the series.

The "small type" designation distinguishes it from the short-lived large-type predecessor struck only in 1871. Mintages dropped sharply after 1880 as gold drained from circulation into hoarding, and the series effectively ended when Japan adopted the gold standard in 1897.