The banknotes of the Japanese yen are part of the physical form of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

's currency. The issuance of the yen

Japanese yen

The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...

 banknotes began in 1872, two years after the currency was introduced. Throughout its history, the denominations have ranged from 0.05 yen to 10,000 yen.

Before World War II

In 1872, the Ministry of Finance introduced notes in denominations between 10 sen and 100 yen. "Imperial Japanese Paper Currency" followed in 1873 in denominations of 1 yen up to 20 yen. "Imperial Japanese Paper Money" was issued between 1881 and 1883 in denominations between 20 sen and 10 yen.

In 1877 and 1878, the Imperial Japanese National Bank issued 1 and 5 yen notes. In 1885, the Bank of Japan

Bank of Japan

is the central bank of Japan. The Bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chuo, Tokyo.-History:Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was founded after the Meiji Restoration...

 began issuing notes, in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 100 yen. 20 yen notes were added in 1917, followed by 200 yen in 1927 and 1000 yen in 1945.

Between 1917 and 1922, the government issued 10, 20 and 50 sen notes. 50 sen notes were reintroduced in 1938. In 1944, 5 and 10 sen notes were introduced by the Bank of Japan.

Allied forces notes

The Allies issued notes in denominations of 10 and 50 sen, 1, 5, 10, 20, 100 and 1000 yen between 1945 and 1951, during which time the Bank of Japan also issued notes. Banknotes below 1 yen became invalid on December 31, 1953 by the same legislation mentioned above.

Australia actually made notes for the occupation as well and those can be seen at the Australian Reserve Bank website

Regaining sovereignty

By the early 1950s, notes below 50 yen had been replaced by coins, followed by those for 50 and 100 yen in the late 1950s. In 1957 and 1958, 5000 and 10,000 yen notes were introduced. The 500 yen notes were replaced after 1982, while 2000 yen notes were introduced in 2000.

1946-48

Series A (1946–48)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse			Obverse	Reverse	issue	issue suspension	expiration
		¥0.05	94 × 48 mm	Prunus mume blossoms	Geometric patterns Pattern A pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set of objects.These elements repeat in a predictable manner...	May 25, 1948	December 31, 1953	December 31, 1953
		¥0.1	100 × 52 mm	A pigeon	The Diet Diet of Japan The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...  building	September 5, 1947
		¥1 1 yen note The ¥1 note is a Japanese banknote. There are four types of ¥1 notes. The old ¥1 notes , modified ¥1 notes , #い note , and #A note ....	124 × 68 mm	Ninomiya Sontoku Ninomiya Sontoku , born Ninomiya Kinjirō , was a prominent 19th century Japanese agricultural leader, philosopher, moralist and economist.-Life:Ninomiya Sontoku was born to a poor peasant family with a name of Kinjiro in Kayama Ashigarakami-gun Sagami province. His father died when he was 14 and his mother died...	Geometric patterns	March 19, 1946	October 1, 1958	Valid
		¥5	132 × 68 mm	Geometric patterns		March 5, 1946	April 1, 1955
		¥10	140 × 76 mm	The Diet building		February 25, 1946
		¥100	162 × 93 mm	Prince Shōtoku Prince Shotoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was a son of Emperor Yōmei and his younger half-sister Princess Anahobe no Hashihito. His parents were relatives of the ruling Soga clan, and was involved in the defeat... , "Yumedono" (A hall associated with Prince Shōtoku in Hōryū-ji Hōryū-ji is a Buddhist temple in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is Hōryū Gakumonji , or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, the complex serving as seminary and monastery both....  Temple)	Hōryū-ji Temple	February 25, 1946	July 5, 1956

1950-53

Series B (1950–53)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	issue	issue suspension
		¥50	144 × 68 mm	Orange	Takahashi Korekiyo Takahashi Korekiyo Viscount was a Japanese politician and the 20th Prime Minister of Japan from 13 November 1921 to 12 June 1922. He was known as an expert on finance during his political career.-Early life :...	The old headquarters of Nippon Ginkō Bank of Japan is the central bank of Japan. The Bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chuo, Tokyo.-History:Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was founded after the Meiji Restoration...	December 1, 1951	October 1, 1958
		¥100	148 × 76 mm	Brown-orange	Itagaki Taisuke Itagaki Taisuke Count was a Japanese politician and leader of the , which evolved into Japan's first political party.- Early life :Itagaki Taisuke was born into a middle-ranking samurai family in Tosa Domain, , After studies in Kōchi and in Edo, he was appointed as sobayonin to Tosa daimyo Yamauchi Toyoshige,...	The Diet Diet of Japan The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...  building	December 1, 1953	August 1, 1974
		¥500	156 × 76 mm	Dark blue	Iwakura Tomomi Iwakura Tomomi was a Japanese statesman in the Meiji period. The former 500 Yen banknote issued by the Bank of Japan carried his portrait.-Early life:Iwakura was born in Kyoto as the second son of a low-ranking courtier and nobleman . In 1836 he was adopted by another nobleman, , from whom he received his family...	Mt. Fuji	April 2, 1951	January 4, 1971
		¥1000 1000 yen note The front side shows a portrait of Hideyo Noguchi, a bacteriologist who devoted himself to yellow fever research. The reverse depicts Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms.Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures are present in the banknote...	164 × 76 mm	Grey	Prince Shōtoku Prince Shotoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was a son of Emperor Yōmei and his younger half-sister Princess Anahobe no Hashihito. His parents were relatives of the ruling Soga clan, and was involved in the defeat...	"Yumedono"	January 7, 1950	January 4, 1965

The series B introduced a new high value banknote ¥1000.

1957-69

Series C (1957–69)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	issue	issue suspension
		¥500	159 × 72 mm	Blue	Iwakura Tomomi Iwakura Tomomi was a Japanese statesman in the Meiji period. The former 500 Yen banknote issued by the Bank of Japan carried his portrait.-Early life:Iwakura was born in Kyoto as the second son of a low-ranking courtier and nobleman . In 1836 he was adopted by another nobleman, , from whom he received his family...	Mt. Fuji	November 1, 1969	April 1, 1994
		¥1000 1000 yen note The front side shows a portrait of Hideyo Noguchi, a bacteriologist who devoted himself to yellow fever research. The reverse depicts Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms.Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures are present in the banknote...	164 × 76 mm	Yellow-green	Itō Hirobumi Ito Hirobumi Prince was a samurai of Chōshū domain, Japanese statesman, four time Prime Minister of Japan , genrō and Resident-General of Korea. Itō was assassinated by An Jung-geun, a Korean nationalist who was against the annexation of Korea by the Japanese Empire...	The old headquarters of Nippon Ginkō Bank of Japan is the central bank of Japan. The Bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chuo, Tokyo.-History:Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was founded after the Meiji Restoration...	November 1, 1963	January 4, 1986
		¥5000 5000 yen note The front side of the note includes a portrait of Ichiyo Higuchi, a Meiji era writer and poet. The reverse side depicts "Kakitsubata Flowers", from a folding screen by Korin Ogata.Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures are present in the banknote...	169 × 80 mm	Green-brown	Prince Shōtoku Prince Shotoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was a son of Emperor Yōmei and his younger half-sister Princess Anahobe no Hashihito. His parents were relatives of the ruling Soga clan, and was involved in the defeat...	The old headquarters of Nippon Ginkō	October 1, 1957	January 4, 1986
		¥10000 10,000 yen note The front side of the note includes a portrait of Yukichi Fukuzawa, a Meiji era philosopher and the founder of Keio University. The back of the note shows a drawing of the Hōō in the Hall of the Phoenix, Byōdō-in....	174 × 84 mm	Brown-green	Prince Shōtoku Prince Shotoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was a son of Emperor Yōmei and his younger half-sister Princess Anahobe no Hashihito. His parents were relatives of the ruling Soga clan, and was involved in the defeat...	A pillar painting of Hōō Fenghuang Fenghuang are mythological birds of East Asia that reign over all other birds. The males are called Feng and the females Huang. In modern times, however, such a distinction of gender is often no longer made and the Feng and Huang are blurred into a single feminine entity so that the bird can be...  in Byōdō-in Byodo-in is a Buddhist temple in the city of Uji in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is jointly a temple of the Jōdo-shū and Tendai-shū sects.- History :...  Temple	December 1, 1958	January 4, 1986

The series C introduced two new high value banknotes ¥5000 and ¥10000.

1984

Series D (1984)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	issue	issue suspension
		¥1000 1000 yen note The front side shows a portrait of Hideyo Noguchi, a bacteriologist who devoted himself to yellow fever research. The reverse depicts Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms.Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures are present in the banknote...	150 × 76 mm	Blue	Natsume Sōseki Natsume Soseki , born ', is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji period . He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales...	Pair of Cranes Red-crowned Crane The Red-crowned Crane , also called the Japanese Crane or Manchurian Crane , is a large east Asian crane and among the rarest cranes in the world...	November 1, 1984	April 2, 2007
		¥5000 5000 yen note The front side of the note includes a portrait of Ichiyo Higuchi, a Meiji era writer and poet. The reverse side depicts "Kakitsubata Flowers", from a folding screen by Korin Ogata.Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures are present in the banknote...	155 × 76 mm	Purple	Nitobe Inazō	Mt. Fuji, Lake Motosuko and Cherry blossoms
		¥10000 10,000 yen note The front side of the note includes a portrait of Yukichi Fukuzawa, a Meiji era philosopher and the founder of Keio University. The back of the note shows a drawing of the Hōō in the Hall of the Phoenix, Byōdō-in....	160 × 76 mm	Brown	Fukuzawa Yukichi Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese author, writer, teacher, translator, entrepreneur and political theorist who founded Keio University. His ideas about government and social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji Era...	Pair of Pheasant Pheasant Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have... s

Due to the discovery of a large number of counterfeit

Counterfeit

To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...

 Series D banknotes at the end of 2004, all Series D banknotes except ¥2000 were virtually suspended on January 17, 2005 , and officially suspended on April 2, 2007. According to a news release from the National Police Agency

National Police Agency (Japan)

The is an agency administered by the National Public Safety Commission of the Cabinet Office in the cabinet of Japan, and is the central coordinating agency of the Japanese police system....

, they seized 11,717 counterfeit Series D banknotes (excluding the ¥2000 denomination) in 2005. However, they seized only 486 counterfeit current issue banknotes, namely Series E ¥1000, ¥5000, ¥10000, and Series D ¥2000.

2000

Commemorative series D (2000)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of issue
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
		¥2000 2000 yen note The was issued July 19, 2000, to commemorate the 26th G8 Summit and the millennium. Known as the D Series, it was the only 2,000 yen note design ever to be printed. The design was similar of that of the other Japanese notes in circulation at the time of issue....	154 × 76 mm	Green	Shurei-mon Shureimon This article is about the gate in the Shuri neighborhood in Japan. For the Digimon see Hawkmon.Shureimon is a gate in the Shuri neighborhood of Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the second of Shuri Castle's main gates...	Scene from the Tale of Genji The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...  and portrait of Murasaki Shikibu Murasaki Shikibu Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012...	July 19, 2000

This is the current issue. The 2000 yen note was first issued on July 19, 2000 to commemorate the 26th G8 summit

26th G8 summit

The 26th G8 Summit was a political summit that took place in Nago, Okinawa, Japan, on July 21- July 23, 2000.-Overview:The Group of Seven was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United...

 in Okinawa and the millennium year as well. Pictured on the front of the note is Shureimon, a famous gate in Naha, Okinawa

Naha, Okinawa

is the capital city of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa.Naha is a coastal city located on the East China Sea coast of the southern part of Okinawa Island, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands...

 near the site of the summit. The other side features a scene from the The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji

is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...

and the author Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012...

 on the lower right corner. The motif of the scene was taken from the 12th century illuminated handscrolls of the novel kept at the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya.

These notes are rare in the market, but at banks they are readily available. Many Japanese consider the 2000 yen note a novelty as it is the only Japanese denomination in the factor of 2. To promote the circulation of the notes, some companies had started paying wages in them. The series D is the first to display the EURion constellation

EURion constellation

The EURion constellation is a pattern of symbols found on a number of banknote designs worldwide since about 1996. It is added to help software detect the presence of a banknote in a digital image. Such software can then block the user from reproducing banknotes to prevent counterfeiting using...

.

2004

Series E (2004)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of issue
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
		¥1000 1000 yen note The front side shows a portrait of Hideyo Noguchi, a bacteriologist who devoted himself to yellow fever research. The reverse depicts Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms.Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures are present in the banknote...	150 × 76 mm	Blue	Noguchi Hideyo Hideyo Noguchi , also known as , was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist who discovered the agent of syphilis as the cause of progressive paralytic disease in 1911.-Early life:...	Mt. Fuji, Lake Motosu and Cherry blossoms	November 1, 2004
		¥5000 5000 yen note The front side of the note includes a portrait of Ichiyo Higuchi, a Meiji era writer and poet. The reverse side depicts "Kakitsubata Flowers", from a folding screen by Korin Ogata.Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures are present in the banknote...	156 × 76 mm	Purple	Higuchi Ichiyō	"Kakitsubata-zu" (Painting of Irises Iris (plant) Iris is a genus of 260-300species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species... , a work by Ogata Kōrin Ogata Korin was a Japanese painter of the Rinpa school.-Early life:Kōrin was born in Kyoto, to a wealthy merchant who had a taste for the arts and is said to have given his son some elementary instruction therein... )
		¥10000 10,000 yen note The front side of the note includes a portrait of Yukichi Fukuzawa, a Meiji era philosopher and the founder of Keio University. The back of the note shows a drawing of the Hōō in the Hall of the Phoenix, Byōdō-in....	160 × 76 mm	Brown	Fukuzawa Yukichi Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese author, writer, teacher, translator, entrepreneur and political theorist who founded Keio University. His ideas about government and social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji Era...	Statue of hōō (phoenix) Fenghuang Fenghuang are mythological birds of East Asia that reign over all other birds. The males are called Feng and the females Huang. In modern times, however, such a distinction of gender is often no longer made and the Feng and Huang are blurred into a single feminine entity so that the bird can be...  from Byōdō-in Byodo-in is a Buddhist temple in the city of Uji in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is jointly a temple of the Jōdo-shū and Tendai-shū sects.- History :...  Temple

This is the current issue. The EURion constellation

EURion constellation

The EURion constellation is a pattern of symbols found on a number of banknote designs worldwide since about 1996. It is added to help software detect the presence of a banknote in a digital image. Such software can then block the user from reproducing banknotes to prevent counterfeiting using...

pattern can be observed on the series E.

External links

• List of banknotes valid in Japan
• Currency Museum of the Bank of Japan
• Museum of Bank notes and Coins