Changes

==Early Coinage==

==Early Coinage==

[[File:Wadokaichin.jpg|right|thumb|200px|An example of a ''wadô kaichin'' coin, on display at the British Museum]]

[[File:Wadokaichin.jpg|right|thumb|400px|An example of a ''wadô kaichin'' coin, on display at the British Museum]]

It was long believed that the first currency to be produced in Japan was minted in the Wadô era (708-715), an era named after the discovery of copper in [[Musashi province]] (Wadô 和銅 literally means "Japanese copper"). These coins, with a face value of one ''mon'', were based on the ''kai yuan tong bao'' (開元通宝) coinage then circulating in [[Tang Dynasty]] China, and were minted in order to pay laborers for their work in building the new capital of [[Heijo-kyo|Heijô-kyô]].<ref name=britishmuseum>Gallery labels, British Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/47588044022/sizes/k/]</ref> These small round coins with square holes in the middle would serve as the standard model for the shape or form of coins in both China and Japan for many centuries. Recent discoveries since the 1990s, however, have unearthed earlier, unlabeled (''mumon'' 無文) silver coins, as well as coins known as ''fuhonsen'' 富本銭. The latter seem to have emerged in the 680s, during the period of [[Fujiwara-kyo|Fujiwara-kyô]]; in contrast to the ''mumon ginsen'' which were valued by their actual weight in silver, and which [[Emperor Temmu]] outlawed in [[683]], the ''fuhonsen'' were fiat money (face value).

It was long believed that the first currency to be produced in Japan was minted in the Wadô era (708-715), an era named after the discovery of copper in [[Musashi province]] (Wadô 和銅 literally means "Japanese copper"). These coins, with a face value of one ''mon'', were based on the ''kai yuan tong bao'' (開元通宝) coinage then circulating in [[Tang Dynasty]] China, and were minted in order to pay laborers for their work in building the new capital of [[Heijo-kyo|Heijô-kyô]].<ref name=britishmuseum>Gallery labels, British Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/47588044022/sizes/k/]</ref> These small round coins with square holes in the middle would serve as the standard model for the shape or form of coins in both China and Japan for many centuries. Recent discoveries since the 1990s, however, have unearthed earlier, unlabeled (''mumon'' 無文) silver coins, as well as coins known as ''fuhonsen'' 富本銭. The latter seem to have emerged in the 680s, during the period of [[Fujiwara-kyo|Fujiwara-kyô]]; in contrast to the ''mumon ginsen'' which were valued by their actual weight in silver, and which [[Emperor Temmu]] outlawed in [[683]], the ''fuhonsen'' were fiat money (face value).

==Meiji Period==

==Meiji Period==

The [[Meiji government]] began printing its own money almost immediately, in [[1868]]. These first notes were called ''Dajôkansatsu'', after the [[Dajokan|Dajôkan]] (Imperial Council of State). A new Currency Act was passed in [[1871]], establishing the [[yen]] as the core denomination of currency. The first national bank notes to feature a person's portrait depicted [[Empress Jingu|Empress Jingû]], and came out in [[1881]].<ref name=currencymuseum/> The first one-yen coin was quite large by today's standards, possibly in emulation of the standard size of the internationally standard [[Spanish dollar|trade dollar]].<ref name=onaga>Conversation with Onaga Yoshiaki 翁長良明 of Narumi-dô antiques shop, Naha, Okinawa.</ref> The one-yen coin used today is dramatically smaller in size, and dramatically smaller in value (in terms of real purchasing power), due to inflation and other economic shifts over the years. Made of aluminum, it is made to be precisely two centimeters in diameter and one gram in weight.<ref name=onaga/>

The [[Meiji government]] began printing its own money almost immediately, in [[1868]]. These first notes were called ''Dajôkansatsu'', after the [[Dajokan|Dajôkan]] (Imperial Council of State). A new Currency Act was passed in [[1871]], establishing the [[yen]] as the core denomination of currency, and the Paper Money Bureau (within the [[Ministry of Finance]]) as the agency overseeing the production of new paper currency. [[Edoardo Chiossone]] and others were entrusted with designing bank notes that would be durable and difficult to fake. A German company was entrusted with producing the first new paper currency, and an American company with producing the first national bank notes. A printing plant was established at Ôtemachi in Tokyo, with printing presses imported from Germany. A two-story Western-style brick building, it was called the Chôyôkaku (朝陽閣).<ref>Gallery labels, National Archives of Japan.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/54292863327/sizes/o/]</ref>

 

The first national bank notes to feature a person's portrait depicted [[Empress Jingu|Empress Jingû]], and came out in [[1881]].<ref name=currencymuseum/> The first one-yen coin was quite large by today's standards, possibly in emulation of the standard size of the internationally standard [[Spanish dollar|trade dollar]].<ref name=onaga>Conversation with Onaga Yoshiaki 翁長良明 of Narumi-dô antiques shop, Naha, Okinawa.</ref> The one-yen coin used today is dramatically smaller in size, and dramatically smaller in value (in terms of real purchasing power), due to inflation and other economic shifts over the years. Made of aluminum, it is made to be precisely two centimeters in diameter and one gram in weight.<ref name=onaga/>

The [[Bank of Japan]] was established in [[1882]], and issued its first notes in [[1885]]; these notes, known as ''Daikoku satsu'', featured images of [[Daikoku]], one of the [[Seven Lucky Gods]]. A Coinage Law passed in [[1897]] set the economy onto the gold standard.<ref name=currencymuseum/>

The [[Bank of Japan]] was established in [[1882]], and issued its first notes in [[1885]]; these notes, known as ''Daikoku satsu'', featured images of [[Daikoku]], one of the [[Seven Lucky Gods]]. A Coinage Law passed in [[1897]] set the economy onto the gold standard.<ref name=currencymuseum/>