The Bank of Japan produced four types of one yen bills: the old gold ¥1 issue, the remodeled ¥1 issue, the standard ¥1 issue, and the A-Series ¥1 bills. Most of the bills were issued before the war, during the war and immediately after the end of World War II have been taken out of circulation due to the abolition of the Gold standard, and Japan's system of yen switching. Though, all bills printed by the bank of Japan are still legal tender.
The Old Issue Bill was nicknamed the "Daikoku Bill" because of the picture of Daikokuten on the inverse of the bill. The designer is Edoardo Chiossone of Italy. It is valid today even more than 130 years since the bill was first issued in 1885. There is a character watermark of "Bank of Japan Currency". The rules of conversion are written in Japanese and English. On the bill, the serial number is written using Chinese numerals, and it is the oldest among the still valid currency of Japan. Although it is written as "convertible silver certificate", it is now handled as an invalid banknote, so it can not be exchanged for silver coins. Although it is legal tender, at present, the bill is usually sold for its monetary value, and is usually traded for tens of thousands of yen, or sometimes, even more.
The Old Issue Bills were mixed with konjac in order to increase the strength of the banknote, due to this, many insects and rats often ate them, so "modified tickets" including this one yen note were issued to supplement against this problem. Also, black watermarks were adopted. On the bill front of the bill, the rules of conversion are written in Japanese, while the reverse side is written in English. Initially, the serial numbers were written in Chinese Numerals, from 1916, the date was written in Arabic numerals. In 1897, when Japan shifted from a Silver standard to a Gold standard, there was initially going to be a one yen gold coin for conversion, but due to the advent of this not being created, the Remodeled Bill was used instead.
As Japan plunged deeper into World War II, banknotes became more poorly made. For example, the serial number was omitted in 1944. This bill was nicknamed the "Military Bank One Yen Bill".
The A-Series One yen bill was designed by the private sector and printed by companies such as Dai Nippon Printing and Toppan Printing. There was no watermark featured on the A-series one yen bill.
