Another old Japanese banknote! Don't worry, I'm almost done with the handful of these I bought a few weeks ago. Then I will return to coins. Today we're going to look at this one!

It's a ¥5 note released in 1942, not long after the war with the US began. This is one of nicer designs, right up there with that ¥10 note I showed you not too long ago.

At the time, the exchange rate was around $1:¥4.27, making this worth around $1.17 in 1942 dollars, which would be around $22.54 in 2024 dollars. Not a bad amount to have, making this note somewhat more useful than many we've previously seen.

This was nominally a gold certificate able to be exchanged for the precious metal, but in reality it was de facto fiat money, made in preparation for Japan making a complete transition off the gold standard and to a fiat one.

Front

I like this dual picture front design. On the right is Sugawara no Michizane, a Heian era scholar, who died in exile and was later deified in an attempt to pacify his angry spirit which was blamed for a great many disasters that occurred immediately following his death.

On the left is Kitano Tenmangu shrine, the shrine in Kyoto that he was made the god of. More later on both of these.

In the middle of the top is the Imperial crest, a chrysanthemum. Near the bottom, that red picture extending form the bottom of one picture to the next looks like some paulownia leaves, symbols of the government.

The text across the top reads 日本銀行発換券 (Nihon ginkō hatsu kanken) "Bank of Japan issued exchange note"

Vertically next to the left picture: 日本銀行 (Nihon Ginkō) "bank of Japan.

In the middle: 五圓 (go en), "Five yen"

Vertically next to the right picture: 此券引換に金貨五圓相渡可申候 (kono kiken hikikae ni kinka go-en aiwatashi kanō mōsōrō), "This certificate can be exchanged for five yen in gold coins".

And at the bottom: 内閣印刷局幣造 (Naikaku Insatsukyoku Kaneizō), "Minted by the Cabinet Printing Bureau".

Overall, a really nice design.

Reverse

This is kind of a weird one. Some random designs that look like of like two eyes and a mouth. There are four fives in the background, two in Arabic numbers and two in Japanese numbers (五). 五 and 圓 in the two eyes ("Five yen"), and the longer text above center is... really hard for me to read... because it's in seal script, a classical kanji style that is quite different from modern kanji. I think it may be the same as the front 日本銀行発換券 (Nihon ginkō hatsu kanken) "Bank of Japan issued exchange note"

(If you can read seal script better than me and I'm wrong, please correct me in the comments)

About

Now about the fellow on the front, Sugawara no Michizane. People who follow my poetry posts have probably heard mention of him before. Among other things, he was a poet and wrote some of what today is considered really excellent poetry. He is featured in the Hyakunin Isshu, a collection of some of the most famous poems in Japanese history.

He is also considered the god of learning in Shinto. Now how did that come about...? Well, like many people back then, when he stepped into politics he made a lot of enemies. Unfortunately for him, his enemies were the very powerful Fujiwara clan, the family who more or less controlled the government and the emperor for quite a long time. They were able to eventually get him exiled, where he died.

However after his death, plague and drought spread throughout the country. The sons of Emperor Daigo died in succession, and the imperial palace itself was struck repeatedly by lightening over a period of week long rainstorms which also caused massing flooding. The local priests attributed all this to Michizane's angry spirit. They built a shrine just for him, Kitano Tenmangu, then posthumously restored his title and office, and removed any mention of his exile from the court records. He was also deified as Tenjin-sama, a god of sky and storms. Eventually, Tenjin evolved away from the angry vengeful god and changed into a more benign god of scholarship.

The colorful story aside, most people these days know him as the god of scholarship and pray at Tenmangu shrines all over the country for success at school. He was also well known in life for his love of the ume blossoms, and so Tenmangu shrines all over the country are often surrounded by many ume trees, making them very popular places in the spring every year.

Hmm... thinking of that, I wonder if those red leaves on the front of the note are ume blossoms? It's really hard for me to see clearly. What do you think?

Overall

Anyway, overall a great banknote! Here it is next to the ¥10, which I also really like.

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.