is the name given to money used by the Japanese armed forces for the purchase of supplies in occupied territories. It was mainly issued in denominations of yen, and subsidiary currency of sen with the exception of the first Sino-Japanese War series. This particular article covers pre-Shōwa era currency issued from 1894 to 1918 in three different periods. During this time Japan was militarily involved in the First Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, and events during World War I such as the Siberian intervention. The military currency issued during these events circulated in Japanese Korea, the Republic of China (Manchuria), and the Russian State. All of the notes issued share a similar design which resembles government issued civilian currency which circulated in Japan from 1872 to 1899. Japanese military currency was exchangeable at the given time for both silver and gold bullion. Most of these events were not long term which impacted the amount of surviving currency in different ways. It was also routine after each event for officials to exchange the military currency issued for bullion or other forms of payment such as banknotes. Unredeemed notes were thus either held by the public as commemorates or eventually lost in the decades that followed. Those that remain today are collected and traded depending on the condition and surviving rate of the series.
First Sino-Japanese War (1895) were the first currency issued by the Japanese armed forces. The notes were used during the First Sino-Japanese War for only two months as the war ended before they could be used for a longer term. Sino-Japanese Warbonds were printed and released sometime in February 1895 in denominations of 10 tael, 5 tael, 1 tael, 5 sen, 2 sen, and 1 fen. Their design is similar to civilian issued Meiji Tsūhō notes which were in circulation at the time. As the war ended with a peace treaty on April 17, 1895, a majority of the series went unused. Most of these notes were collected by officials who exchanged them at a 1.40 yen per 1 tael rate before disposing of them. The issued series as a whole was thought to have gone extinct until four notes re-surfaced in 1977. These were found hidden in the inner pockets of military uniforms worn by high-ranking officers who served in the Sino-Japanese War. Five other unissued specimen notes remain at the Bank of Japan currency museum for public viewing.
Russo-Japanese War (1904)
were produced beforehand in 1903 (year 36 of Meiji) in anticipation of an upcoming war. During this time negotiations commenced between Japan and Russia regarding Russian troops in Manchuria. Seeing Russia as a rival, Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea being within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded the establishment of a neutral buffer zone between Russia and Japan in Korea north of the 39th parallel. Japan officially issued a declaration of war on February 8, 1904, and attacked the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur. Russo-Japanese War military bonds were issued upon declaration in denominations of 10 sen, 20 sen, 50 sen, 1 yen, 5 yen, and 10 yen. Their size ranges from 103mm x 62mm for sen to 130 mm x 92 mm for yen with a design similar to Meiji Tsūhō notes that were issued for civilians in Japan from 1872 to 1899. These Russo-Japanese War military bonds could be converted into silver during the war. Places of redemption were set up across Manchuria as the alloy could not be feasibly carried by the troops making local payments. This series was used abundantly in contrast with Sino-Japanese Warbonds as over 140 million yen in notes were issued during the war. The Japanese military also issued some of these notes in the Korean Empire as "special occupation currency".