At 06:17 PM 6/8/99 -0400, Jason Liao wrote

Here's an even better question.  In Kenshin's time, did they even use yen?

The story of Hitoriki Battousai apparantly begins in 1878 (Meiji 11).
Western style coins called yen were minted at the directive of the
New Currency Act in 1871 (Meiji 4).  This included a one yen gold
piece, a 20 yen gold piece, and a 1 yen silver coin used for foreign
trade.  Government (bills) appeared in 1872, although the initial run
resulted in mass counterfeiting.  These bills were minted by Germans,
and prone to fraud.  The 1873 note printed in America with the
establishment of a national banking system resembled a 10 dollar
greenback.  When Mitsui finally succeeded in establishing his national
bank, all issuance of bills was restricted to the Bank of Japan.  
Unfortunately, Bank of Japan notes would not appear until 1885; as
such, they would not exist in the Hirotiki's time.

Ultimately, yes.  A yen system based on a bi-metallic standard
exists as early as 1871, and notes were printed a year later.  The
gold and silver coins we see in Kenshin are probably more representative
of the currency in circulation.  I recommend reading the material at
the Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, located at:

http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/

Hope this helps.

-The Reverend Prez

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+-----------------+-<The Badass Reverend of Funk Prez>---+
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