How can you tell the date of a 5 yen?

Answer 1

I wish I had an easy answer for you, but the date is on the coin in Kanji rather than using Arabic or Roman numerals, which, unless you happen to know Japanese, it is going to be rather hard to read. The easiest way to find out the date would be to take it to a friend who knows Japanese, or try to learn Japanese dating systems online.

28 not flat-

Easy:

Modern 5¥ coins(ones with holes in the middle)date back to 1949, and were issued in either the Showa(昭和)or Heisei(平成)period.

The date of a 5 yen coin is located on the obverse, and is under the two sprouts.

If the coin is from the Showa period, the first two symbols in this area should be 昭和. The Showa period started in 1926, so 1926 is Year 1, or Showa 1 - (昭和一年)

Btw, 年just means "year" and is not a numeral.

Japanese numerals are the following:

1-一

2-二

3-三

4-四

5-五

6-六

7-七

8-八

9-九

10 or 10x-十

For example, if a 5 yen coin is dated 1950, or Showa 25, the date on the coin would read 昭和二十五年.

What this means is:

昭和(Showa)

二十(20, or 2 x 10)

五(5)

年(year)

Year 1 is 1926, so Year 25 is 1950.

An easy way to calculate this? Take 1925 + the year.

1925 + (Year)1 = 1926! It works.

Heisei period coins are dated similarly. The Heisei period started in 1989, so you take 1988 and add it to the date to get the A.D. date. Another trick is to subtract 12, then add 2000.

Note: Heisei 1 and Showa 64 (1989) are the same date - it is the ending of Showa and the beginning of Heisei.

So, for example, 平成十四年 (Heisei 14) dates as 2002.

If your 5 yen coin is a gold one that dates around the 1800s, than it is worth slightly more than face value...

Look up the time period character.

Note: If you find a Showa 32(1957), hold on to it, because it is rarer than the others.