How do you date a Japanese yen?

Answer 1

I know how to date coins that were issued in either the Showa(昭和)or Heisei(平成)period. You can find out how to date other coins by looking up the time period characters.

For one yen coins, the date is located below the "1" and is the only writing there.

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 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 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.