A History of the Japanese Yen

Above, my little collection of yen. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Ever wondered how the Japanese yen came to be what it is today.

Well, you're in luck! Taiken Japan has an article with the history of the Japanese yen.

It begins with:

The yen is Japan's official currency with symbol “¥” on their coin or paper money. Based on ISO 4217, its code is JPY and in Japanese is written and pronounced as en (円) which means “round”. In less than 200 years, this currency went from a strict assortment selected by the Shogun to one of the world's most valuable mediums of exchange. Outside Japan, people pronounce it as "yen" because the first Western missionaries, did so. During those times, when Keshogunan Tokugawa was reigning, pronunciation for "e" was pronounced as "je" therefore Edo City was written as Yedo City, Ezo Island became Yeso Island and Ebisu was changed into Yebisu. Today, the yen is the world's third most traded currency after the dollar and euro.

To read more, go here.