50 Sen / Sen'

Japan's wartime fiscal expansion during World War One pushed the government to issue fractional paper notes directly rather than rely on coin. The 50 Sen series of which P#15 is a part emerged from acute silver coin shortages — metal was being diverted, and the public was hoarding what circulated. Government-issued sen notes were a stopgap measure that outlasted the emergency by decades.

P#15 specifically falls within the Taisho-period emissions, printed domestically at the Government Printing Bureau in Tokyo. These notes were produced in very large quantities and circulated heavily in everyday retail transactions, which accounts for why high-grade survivors are genuinely uncommon despite the series' nominal abundance.