Japanese coin-dating, eine Frage

[villa66]

I’ve seen a question about an interesting duality in Japanese coin-dating, and hoped someone on the Forum might explain the seeming inconsistency.

The 1-, 5-, 10-yen have always had Japanese–only dates. The regular issue 500-yen also, which is a somewhat newer coin, began in 1982 with a Japanese–only date.

The nickel 50-yen and the silver 100-yen began with Japanese–only dates. But for some reason, beginning with the 1967 issues in copper-nickel, 50- and 100-yen coins have their dynastic dates rendered in Western–style numerals (I note the 1964–regnal year 39–Olympic 100-yen commemorative in circulating silver also had Western–style numerals in the date).

If someone can explain this duality in Japanese coin-dating, I would appreciate learning the reason.

v.

[pingu]

Hallo,

eine interessante Frage. Die genaue Antwort kenne ich nicht (habe ich auch nirgends gefunden).

Vermutung:
Die ersten arabischen Ziffern tauchen 1873 auf japanischen Münzen auf. Dies als direktes Ergebniss der Bemühungen das Zahlungssystem auf einen westlichen Standart umzustellen und den Aussenhandel zu erleichtern. Die Umstellung der Schriftzeichen für die Jahreszahlen sehe ich als halbherzige Weiterführung der Bemühungen von 1873. In Japan gibt es Bestrebungen von den Schriftzeichen (Kanji) weg zu kommen und die Schrift als Ganzes auf das lateinische System umzustellen. Deshalb wurde neben neben den klassischen Schriftsystemen Kanji, Hiragana und Katakana das Schriftsystem Romaji eingeführt. Romaji basiert als einziges System auf den lateinischen Buchstaben. Leider hat sich dieses System bis heute nicht durchgesetzt und taucht im japanischen Sprachgebrauch eher selten auf. Die meißte Anwendung findet Romaji bei "nicht Japanern" die die japanische Sprache und die Schriftzeichen gerade erst erlernen.
Im Zusammenhang mit der Einführung der Romaji-Schrift muss wohl auch das Erscheinen der Zahlzeichen auf japanischen Münzen ab 1964 gesehen werden.

Grüße
pingu
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übersetzt mit PROMT:

Hello,

an interesting question. I do not know the exact answer (I have nowhere also found).

Supposition:
The first Arabian figures appear in 1873 on Japanese coins. To move this as a direct result of the efforts the payment system in a western state kind and to make easier the foreign trade. I see the conversion of the characters for the annual figures as a half-hearted continuation of the efforts of 1873. In Japan there is to get away attempts of the characters (Kanji) and to move the writing as a whole on the Latin system. Therefore, the written system Romaji was introduced beside beside the classical written systems Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. Romaji is based as the only system on the Latin letter. Unfortunately, this system has not asserted itself till this day and appears in the Japanese usage rather seldom. The meißte use finds Romaji with "not Japanese" them the Japanese language and the characters learning scarcely.
In connection with the introduction of the Romaji writing the appearance of the number signs on Japanese coins must be probably seen also from 1964.

greeting pingu
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eventuell kann den englischen Teil mal jemand für mich koprrigieren? Habs leider nie richtig gelernt.

schon mal danke
pingu

[villa66]

I appreciate the English, but there’s no need to go to the trouble. The online translator is usually okay.

I will, however, apologize once more for not being able to write in German—and thank all those who take the time to read my posts despite their being in English.

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Vielen Dank für die Antwort, pingu. The question remains open, but your information definitely helps lay a foundation.

I’ll add a few quick observations, which you and several others on the Forum could make just as easily as I can: Western-style numerals disappeared from Japanese coins by about 1917, reappeared in 1945 in the denominations of Japanese coins (although the current 5-yen is a longtime notable—and puzzling—exception). And then as mentioned earlier, Western-style numerals also begin to appear in some coin-dates (100¥ and 1000¥ commemoratives) in 1964, with additional inroads in 1967 with the 50¥ and 100¥ circulation coins. The dates carried by the 1-, 5-, 10- and 500-yen coins, however, continue to be rendered in Japanese numerals.

So again the question remains open: what is the history of these numerical changes, and is there some unifying principle behind this seeming random arrangement?

v.