The ¥1,000 note is currently the lowest value yen banknote and has been used since 1945, excluding a brief period between 1946 and 1950 during the

Allied occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States w ...

. The fifth series (series E) notes are currently in circulation, and are the smallest of the three common bank notes. Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures are present in the newest banknotes. While the older notes are no longer issued, they continue to be legal tender.

Former notes

Series 甲

The first ¥1,000 note was released on 17 August 1945. At the time successive series of bank notes were labelled as series 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁 or as series い, ろ as opposed to series A, B, C, D, E. It measured 172 × 100 mm and featured images of the legendary prince

Yamato Takeru , originally , was a Japanese semi-legendary prince of the Yamato dynasty, son of Emperor Keikō, who is traditionally counted as the 12th Emperor of Japan. His name written in kanji can vary, in the '' Nihon Shoki'' it is spelled 日本武尊 ...

and the

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...

shrine Takebe taisha. It was removed from circulation in 1954.

Series A

A series A bank note was planned in 1946 but never released, along with other planned bank notes.

Series B

The series B note measured 164 x 76 mm and entered circulation on 1 July 1950. The obverse displayed an image of the semi-legendary

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

and politician under

Empress Suiko (554 – 15 April 628) was the 33rd monarch of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 推古天皇 (33)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Suiko reigned from 593 until her death in 628. In the history of Japa ...

Prince Shōtoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was the son of Emperor Yōmei and his consort, Princess Anahobe no Hashihito, who was also Yōmei's younger half- ...

. The reverse side contained an image of the "Yumedono" (literally ''Hall of Dreams'') in the grounds of

Hōryū-ji is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is , or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, the complex serving as both a seminary and monastery. The temple was ...

, a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple located in

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakaya ...

. Only one version of the bank note existed, and it was removed from circulation on 4 January 1965.

Series C

Like its predecessor, the series C note measured 164 x 76 mm. It entered circulation on 1 November 1963. The obverse side contained a portrait of

Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the '' genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated sa ...

, who, under

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

, was the first

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan ( Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of S ...

, assuming office in 1885. The reverse side displayed an image of the

Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan. Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was foun ...

. The series C note was released with the bank number in two different colours: black (from 1963) and blue (from 1976). It was removed from circulation on 4 January 1986.

Series D

The series D note, like the series E note currently in circulation, measured 150 x 76 mm. It entered circulation on 1 November 1984. The obverse side contained a portrait of the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

Natsume Sōseki , born , was a Japanese novelist. He is best known around the world for his novels ''Kokoro'', ''Botchan'', ''I Am a Cat'', '' Kusamakura'' and his unfinished work '' Light and Darkness''. He was also a scholar of British literature and writer ...

, whose famous works include ''

I Am a Cat is a satirical novel written in 1905–1906 by Natsume Sōseki about Japanese society during the Meiji period (1868–1912), particularly the uneasy mix of Western culture and Japanese traditions. Sōseki's title, ''Wagahai wa Neko de Aru'', us ...

'' and ''

Kokoro is a novel by the Japanese author Natsume Sōseki. It was first published in 1914 in serial form in the Japanese newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun''. The title translated literally means "heart". The word contains shades of meaning—notions of the he ...

''. The reverse side featured two

red-crowned crane The red-crowned crane (''Grus japonensis''), also called the Manchurian crane or Japanese crane (; the Chinese character '丹' means 'red', '頂/顶' means 'crown' and '鶴/鹤' means 'crane'), is a large East Asian crane among the rarest cran ...

s. The series D note was released with the bank number in four different colours: black (from 1984), blue (from 1990), brown (from 1993) and green (from 2000). With series E being brought into circulation in 2004, the series D notes were removed from circulation on 2 April 2007.

Series E

The fifth series (series E) notes are currently in circulation, and are the smallest of the three common bank notes, measuring 150 x 76 mm. The front side shows a portrait of

Hideyo Noguchi , also known as , was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist who in 1911 discovered the agent of syphilis as the cause of progressive paralytic disease. Early life Noguchi Hideyo whose childhood name was Seisaku Noguchi was born to a family of farme ...

, who in 1911 discovered the agent of syphilis as the cause of progressive paralytic disease. The reverse depicts

Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest ...

and

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The n ...

blossoms, adapted from a photograph by Koyo Okada. It was first issued on 1 November 2004. Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures are present in the newest banknotes. They include intaglio printing, holograms, microprinting, fluorescent ink, latent images, watermarks, and angle-sensitive ink.

Series F

On 9 April 2019, Finance Minister

Tarō Asō is a Japanese politician serving as the Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. Asō previously served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009 and as Deputy Prime Minister of Japan and Minister of Finance from 2 ...

announced new designs for the ¥1,000, ¥5,000, and ¥10,000 notes, for use beginning in 2024. The ¥1,000 bill will feature

Kitasato Shibasaburō Baron was a Japanese physician and bacteriologist. He is remembered as the co-discoverer of the infectious agent of bubonic plague in Hong Kong during an outbreak in 1894, almost simultaneously with Alexandre Yersin. Kitasato was nominat ...

and ''

The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock print by Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist Hokusai, created in late 1831 during the Edo period of Japanese history. The print depicts three boats moving through a storm-tossed sea, with a large wave forming a spiral in the centre ...

.''

Gallery

File:Series B 1000 Yen Bank of Japan note - front.jpg, Series B ¥1,000 note (1950). File:Series C 1K Yen Bank of Japan note - front.jpg, Series C ¥1,000 note (1963). File:1000 yen Natsume Soseki.jpg, Series D ¥1,000 note (1984).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1000 Yen Note Japanese yen banknotes One-thousand-base-unit banknotes Prince Shōtoku