Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Bu Gold
| Issuer | Minbusho (Civil Department) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1869 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse bears a large kanji character 壱 (one) in bold brushwork at the top center, below which the numeral 1 is printed. The composition is vertically oriented with a plain ground, consistent with the early Meiji-period woodblock printing style. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is vertically oriented and enclosed within an ornate rectangular border of interlaced scroll and chrysanthemum mon motifs. The central field carries the denomination inscription 金壱分 (Kin Ichi Bu, one bu gold) within a circular guilloche-style rosette, above a lower panel with two confronted dragon vignettes flanking the issuer inscription 民部省通商司 (Minbusho Tsusho-shi, Civil Department Commercial Bureau). |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Minbushō — the civil finance ministry established in the early Meiji reorganization — issued these gold-denominated notes as part of Japan's first attempt to create a unified national paper currency after centuries of fragmented feudal monetary systems. The "bu" was a traditional subdivision of the ryō, a pre-Meiji gold unit, and these notes were denominated in it precisely because the new government needed the public to trust the paper as a direct gold equivalent during a period of profound monetary uncertainty.
The series was short-lived. The Meiji government rapidly consolidated its currency framework, and bu-denominated notes were superseded within a few years as the yen system took hold after 1871.