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Period of the "Yen"---17. Birth of the "Yen"

20 Yen (1871) gold(fineness 90%)	1 Yen (1871) gold (fineness 90%)	1 Yen Coin for Foreign Trade (1871) silver (fineness 90%)	[scale/A4]

The first western-style coins stamped in Yen units and the 1 yen silver coin used for trading following the New Currency Act promulgated by the Meiji government in Meiji 4 (1871).

The Meiji government started to reform the complicated monetary system of Edo Period into a modern system resembling those in European countries. It was accomplished by the enactment of the New Currency Act, which stipulated: the adoption of the decimal accounting system of yen, sen, and rin. that gold coins shall be the monetary standard, while silver and copper coins be subsidiary. (Adoption of the gold standard). the adoption of round-shaped stamped-out currency for gold and silver coins as in the modern western countries. On the other hand, silver coin was issued only for the purpose of settling trades with other countries along the Pacific Ocean where the silver standard had been adopted. In Meiji 11 (1878), this silver coin was allowed to circulate without limit in Japan, making the Japanese monetary system a gold-silver bi-metallic standard, while the gold standard was formally retained.

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