Years on Japanese coins

[ciscoins]

I was updating my swap-list and I realized that I don't understand anything in Japanese numerals. And there was no normal table or FAQ in all the internet which could help me with sorting my Japanese coins. So I had to create a table myself. Here it is

[Afrasi]

You should have looked here:

http://www.numismatik-cafe.at/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=578

[andyg]

sorry, but I prefer ciscoins version!

[translateltd]

Google "years on japanese coins".  While there are no 100% matches, there are plenty of fuzzy matches that lead to sites showing how to work them out.

[ciscoins]

I've made some changes in the table: all the years before 1948 must be written right-to-left.

[Figleaf]

Thanks for sharing the result of your work, ciscoins. This is helpful.

Peter

[Coinsforever]

I find both the version posted by Afrasi & Ciscoins - Japanese years useful.

Thanks for it.

Cheers

[Harald]

most interesting is of course the year Shōwa 1, it has lasted only 7 days.
too short for almost anything, at least for coins.

cheers
--
Harald

[ciscoins]

I've added three more tables: dating systems on coins of Arabic countries, Israel and Thailand

[Harald]

There is no "Arabic Dating" or "Thai Dating", they are religious calendars.

In most cases there is no simple 1:1 correspondence to the Gregorian dates, since
(a) some of the calendars are lunar or lunisolar (means the year length is different from the solar year, even variable)
(b) there is an offset between the calendars (means their year does not start on 1st January, not even on the same AD date every year)
(c) the various practices of leap years is complicated, to say the least.

To make it short, take any year in an Islamic, Buddhist, Jewish calendar and you always have two possible Gregorian years. Only by knowing
the exact day you can decide which one it is.

BTW, there is a nice freeware tool "Calender Magic" which does a lot of calendar conversions.


... and for my taste, to call all these dating systems "unusual" is a bit too Euro-centric

cheers
--
Harald

[ciscoins]

There is no "Arabic Dating" or "Thai Dating", they are religious calendars.

Every calendar has some religious origins. BC/AD calendar is Christian in its origin. But since their dates appeared on coins which were produced by states - not by religious organizations - all of these calendars became secular.

... and for my taste, to call all these dating systems "unusual" is a bit too Euro-centric

And how should I call them? Gregorian calendar is being ised by most countries at all the continents, regardless of their religion or ethnicity. It is no more European or Christian. It can rightfully be called "usual". And all the other calendars are in use only in one or several countries, they are unusual for the world community.

In most cases there is no simple 1:1 correspondence to the Gregorian dates

Yes, I know. But as for coins, most countries have set strict correspondence of the dates. Israel and Thailand show this correspondence on their mint sets, and UAE, Egypt, etc., issue coins with double dating.

[Harald]

There are many non-religious calendars, dynastic ones or those starting from the founding of the state.
E.g. there was a true "Thai calendar" that began with the taking over of the dynasty that is still in place.
apparently it could not be established over the traditional Buddhist calendar, so it was abolished again
in the 1920s.

BTW, the BE dating is also used on Cambodian coins. The Khmer probably disagree to see it referred to
as "Thai calendar".

cheers
--
Harald