Legal expiry · 31 December 1953

Withdrawal of Sen-Denominated Currency

Explain how inflation and the 1953 small-currency law ended practical and legal use of sub-yen denominations without confusing production end dates with demonetization.

銭単位通貨の整理

Obverse of the Showa 21 (1946) 50 Sen of Japan — As6673, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; deterministic crop and conversion. · Representative contextual pair

Reverse of the Showa 21 (1946) 50 Sen of Japan — As6673, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; deterministic crop and conversion. · Representative contextual pair

Core routes: 20
Issue studies: 14
Exact image pairs: 15
Indexable routes: 0

Context

Historical and monetary setting

The law was promulgated on 15 July 1953. Official coin tables give 31 December 1953 as the legal expiry for the older sen and rin coin families covered here.

Identification

How to classify the object

Record last production, last issue, practical circulation, redemption, and legal expiry as different events.

Evidence boundary

What this page does not claim

This is a domestic coin-and-small-currency transition, not an occupation-note catalog.

Denomination	Yen relationship	Taisho	Showa	Postwar	Legal end
Rin	1 Rin = 1/1000 Yen	5 Rin bronze issued	none in Phase 6 national circulation	obsolete	legal use ended 1953-12-31
1 Sen	1 Sen = 1/100 Yen	small bronze type	brass and aluminum	displaced by inflation	legal use ended 1953-12-31
5 Sen	5 Sen = 1/20 Yen	large then small holed cupronickel	nickel and emergency generations	1946 tin bridge issue	legal use ended 1953-12-31
10 Sen	10 Sen = 1/10 Yen	silver then holed cupronickel	nickel and emergency generations	1946 aluminum bridge issue	legal use ended 1953-12-31
20 Sen	20 Sen = 1/5 Yen	no new regular type within normalized Phase 6 table	none	obsolete	legal use ended 1953-12-31
50 Sen	50 Sen = 1/2 Yen	reduced Phoenix silver	continued silver then postwar brass	1946 and 1947 brass bridge types	legal use ended 1953-12-31

Continue

Related Taisho–Showa references

Postwar Coinage Transition Taishō and Shōwa Coinage Taishō Coinage Early Shōwa Prewar Coinage Wartime Japanese Coinage Emergency Coin Materials

Evidence

Sources and scope

These links support the claims on this page. Source authority does not imply permission to republish source images.

Small Currency Adjustment and Fractional Payment Act, Act No. 60 of 1953 National Diet Library

Promulgation, legislative history, and legal basis for ending sub-yen currency.

Open source

Coins from the Meiji era onward Bank of Japan Currency Museum

Official specifications, first-issue years, legal-expiry dates, wartime and postwar regular types.

Open source

History of Japanese Currency Bank of Japan Currency Museum

Gold-standard context, interwar monetary change, managed currency, war, surrender, and inflation.

Open source