Identify year of coin: Japanese coins
Determining the year of minting of a coin is an important aspect of the identification of your coin. For most countries this isn't hard, as it is written on the coin using the Gregorian or Western calendar. But when it comes, for instance, to Chinese, Japanese or Arab coins, this could be a more hazzardess job.
Therefore, I tried to make a tutorial (based on several websites and Wikipedia) how to read these years and how to translate them to the Gregorian calendar.
Therefore, I tried to make a tutorial (based on several websites and Wikipedia) how to read these years and how to translate them to the Gregorian calendar.
Japanese Dating System
A year, as they appear on a coin, consists of three parts.
The first part is the Japanese character for the word 'Year'. This character is: 年. This character can be the first or the last character, depending on the year of the coin. Older coins are read from right to left, hence the year character would be the last character.
The first part is the Japanese character for the word 'Year'. This character is: 年. This character can be the first or the last character, depending on the year of the coin. Older coins are read from right to left, hence the year character would be the last character.
The Han character for the word year.
The second part is the era name depending on the ruling Emperor at the time the coin was minted. Following are the era names of modern Japan. First is the nengō (the name of the era), then the years according to the Western calendar, last is the nengō in Kanji. The name of these eras are also the names of the ruling Emperors, except for the Heisei era, when Emperor Akihito is ruling.
| Meiji | 1868 - July 1912 | 明治 |
| Taishō | July 1912 - December 1926 | 大正 |
| Shōwa | December 1926 - January 1989 | 昭和 |
| Heisei | January 1989 - Now | 平成 |
In some years two emperors rule, so it is possible that two coins have the same year. The Emperor's name would be different in that case, obviously.
The third part of the year is the number of years the Emperor rules, starting with 1. Japanese numbers are given in the following table:
The third part of the year is the number of years the Emperor rules, starting with 1. Japanese numbers are given in the following table:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 100 |
| 一 | 二 | 三 | 四 | 五 | 六 | 七 | 八 | 九 | 十 | 百 |
In addition, to create larger numbers a multiplication sign is added. This sign is 十, meaning ten. Every numeral written before this symbol is multiplied by ten. If 十 is the first character, then ten is added with the second numeral. This works equally for sign 百 for hundred.
The Han character for the word ten.
For instance, 十二 is the number 12 (10 + 2), 七十 is 70 (7 x 10) and 七十九 is 79 (7 x 10 + 9).
For instance, 五 百is the number 500 (5 x 100).
For instance, 五 百is the number 500 (5 x 100).
