Product Description
SCWPM.#50 - TBB.#327a - Date: ND (1943)Signature: No sign. - Serie: 78
Description: Colour: Black, yellow, lilac, brown, and green. - Front: Japanese text; Kitano Tenmangū shrine in Kyōtō; Sugawara no Michizane (9th century poet). - Back: English and Japanese text; guilloche patterns. - No security thread. - Watermark: Two birds. - Printer code: G. - Size: 132 x 76 mm.- Material: Paper -
General information: 1942 - 1945 World War II Issues
By 1942 the Bank of Japan was in deep trouble due to government demands for financing World War II. A new law was enacted which dropped the necessity for specie, while the bank was forced to finance all government requirements. - Large volumes of banknotes were printed to finance the war, and design and quality gradually deteriorated. First serial numbers were dropped, and finally engraving was replaced with lithography.
By 1944, severe shortages meant even paper and ink quality could not be maintained. Apart from B326, which like the previous series carries the text 日本銀行兌換券 (Bank of Japan convertible note), all other notes carry the text 日本銀行券 (Bank of Japan note).
Though introduced in 1945, the 200-yen note (B330) was actually printed in 1942, it being presumed that a high denomination would be required for expected wartime inflation.
Because the laws governing the Bank of Japan were altered, it was not introduced into circulation until the last year of the war when currency was running short.
Source: The Banknotebook.
