10 yen note

10 Yen "Meiji Tsūhō" note from 1872

The first ten yen notes adopted and released by the Japanese government are part of a series known as Meiji Tsūhō (明治通宝). These notes were the first Japanese currency ever to be printed using western printing at Dondorf and Naumann, which was located in Frankfurt.[3] Meiji Tsuho notes were designed by Edoardo Chiossone sometime in 1870 while he was working for Dondorf Naumann on behalf of The National Bank in the Kingdom of Italy.[4] The process of making Chiossone's proposed design a reality started with the establishment of the "Imperial Printing Bureau of Japan" in 1871 (4th year of Meiji). In order to produce the currency the Japanese government reached out to Dondorf and Naumann to gain access to Western technology.[4] Chiossone had a falling out with Italian Bank as his relationship with them had hit a breaking point. When the company suggested Chiossone for the role as engraver, he quickly accepted the offer.[4] The production of money was handed over to the Imperial Printing Bureau in January 1872 when banknotes began to arrive from Germany.[5] All of these arrivals were purposely left incomplete due to security reasons, as the words "Meiji Tsuho" and the mark of the Minister of Finance were added by the Imperial Printing Bureau. Woodblock printing was eventually employed to save hundreds of people the work of handwriting the characters "Meiji Tsuho" on each individual note. Ten yen notes in particular were released in April 1872 (year 5 of Meiji) measuring 137mm x 89mm in size. Printing was initially done in Germany before Western technology was brought over to Japan. This allowed the Japanese government to produce some ten yen Meiji Tsūhō notes domestically. Overall, Meiji Tsūhō notes feature an elaborate design that was difficult to forge at the time as counterfeiting was previously rampant with clan notes.

The elaborate design worked against counterfeiters for an unknown period of time before they found a way around it. Processing Meiji Tsūhō notes at the time normally involved Japanese officials, who would add stamps to the notes finalizing the process. At some point in time under unknown circumstances unstamped notes sent to Japan from Germany were legally obtained by counterfeiters who then added their own stamps.[6] Another major issue was the Satsuma Rebellion in February 1877, which helped lead to massive inflation due to the amount of inconvertible notes issued for payment.[7] The Japanese government responded by halting the issuance of government notes in 1879 as a hopeful remedy to the situation.[8] During this time, legal tender Meiji Tsuho ten yen notes had issues with paper quality and were circulating with counterfeits. These problems led the Japanese government to issue redesigned ten yen banknotes in 1882 to replace the old Meiji Tsuho notes. Additional measures were subsequently put into place which included the establishment of a centralized bank known as the Bank of Japan. All of the remaining Meiji Tsuho notes in circulation that weren't already redeemed were to be retired in favor of either gold coinage or newly printed Bank of Japan notes. This period of exchange lapsed when Meiji Tsuho notes were abolished on December 9, 1899.[9]

Old national bank note (ten yen)

The idea for national bank notes (国立銀行紙幣) in Japan came from Itō Hirobumi when he was studying the United States in 1871.[10] During this time the Meiji government was working to establish a gold-backed monetary system based on Hirobumi's recommendation. The Japanese government accepted Hirobumi's proposal for national bank notes in 1872 by establishing the "National Bank Act" which organized a decentralized "U.S.-style" system of national banks.[10] Each of these banks was chartered by the state to issue notes exchangeable for gold from reserves held by the banks.[10][11] Permission was eventually given to these private banks allowing national bank notes to be issued in August 1873.[12][13] These first national bank notes are now referred to as old national bank notes (旧国立銀行券).[14]

Ten yen national bank notes in particular measure 80 mm x 190 mm in size and are modeled after their counterparts in the United States. The obverse features a Gagaku performance with convertible wording, while the reverse depicts Empress Jingū flanked by 10 yen gold coins. These circulated as convertible notes for roughly three years before the rising price of gold became an issue. An amendment to the National Bank Act was adopted in August 1876 making the notes inconvertible.[11][15][16] Under this amendment there was no limit on the amount of paper money that could be issued.[15] It also allowed private banks to redeem national bank notes for government issued inconvertible Meiji Tsuho notes rather than for gold.[16]