Japan Mint
building in Kita-ku, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
The Japan Mint (独立行政法人造幣局, Dokuritsu Gyōsei Hōjin Zōheikyoku) is an Independent Administrative Institution of the Japanese government, responsible for producing and circulating the coins of Japan. The agency has its head office in Osaka with branches in Saitama and Hiroshima. The Japan Mint does not produce paper money; that responsibility belongs to the National Printing Bureau.
History
Amongst the first acts of the Meiji government was the establishment of the Imperial Japanese Mint as a constructive step towards modernising Japan's circulating currency. In the early Meiji era, paper currency was initially printed by Dondorf and Naumann in Germany. The European production was inspected and sealed by Banknote Annex Office of the Ministry of Finance. A proposal to construct a banknote manufacturing plant was submitted to Grand Council of State in May 1874; and construction was approved in December of that same year. A two-story Western red brick building was completed in October 1876.
Over the course of decades, the Mint activities have expanded to include the production of Japanese orders (decorations), medals of honor and metallic art objects, the analysis and testing of metal ores and minerals, and the fineness certification of precious metal wares (hallmarking).
The Mint became an Incorporated Administrative Agency on April 1, 2003.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Japan Mint” as building in Kita-ku, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as building in Kita-ku, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1130777. VIAF identifies the subject as 127058260. The Library of Congress control number is nr91007182. Authority coordinates are 34.697, 135.521. 2 of 8 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1874, 1876 and 2003.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Japan Mint”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Japan Mint primary sources, Japan Mint archive and Japan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Japan Mint”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Japan Mint” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.