If you’ve ever been curious about old Japanese coins, this is the post for you! I have a small collection of old Japanese coins and I think I’m going to start sharing some of it.
Today I want to cover a 20 sen coin I picked up a while ago. First we’ll give you some stats then we’ll look at the design a little closer and finally I’ll give some historic info.
Stats
4.1 g
20.3 mm diameter
1.2 mm thickness
edge: reeded
It’s 80% silver and 20% copper.
I’ll give a comparison with US money at the end to but that diameter in perspective.
Front side
The front side has a radiant sun shining in the middle surrounded by cherry blossoms. Around the edge it reads: 20 Sen, Great Japan (大日本), Meiji 42 (明治四十二年). It’s read from right to left, which is not the normal way today, but was common at the time.
Meiji 42 means the 42nd year of the reign of the Meiji Emperor, Mutsuhito, which would be 1909.
Back side
The back features the text 20 sen in the middle (二十銭). The imperial crest which is a chrysanthemum is at the top, and we have the arms of the laurel wreath on the sides. The left arm is a paulownia flower and the right is a Chrysanthemum flower, both important in Japanese culture.
Overall
All in all, a beautifully designed coin. It’s a shame they don’t use this design anymore. This is the third of three different designs they used during the production of the 20 sen coin. It’s the smallest of the three.
Here it is laying on top of a ¥100 coin, which is just slightly smaller than a US quarter.
And on a quarter.
About
Before the hyperinflation following World War II rendered it useless, the yen was subdivided into 100 sen, making it a little like dollars and cents. But with the incredible inflation after the war it was decided to eliminate the sen and rebase the yen to make it the only unit used.
Interestingly, in the 1990s the Bank of Japan was considering adding a new unit above a yen so we could have returned to this mixed unit system, but ultimately they thought it would be too confusing so they decided to stay with only the yen.