In 1881 the Meiji government's Imperial Printing Bureau issued the 改造紙幣, the first banknotes engraved on Japanese soil to a European standard. The Italian master Edoardo Chiossone cut the copper plates by hand, laying intaglio cross-hatching and engine-turned guilloche beneath phoenix and dragon motifs drawn from Japanese tradition.

The result is 和洋折衷 made tangible: Latin lettering and Western intaglio discipline sit beside kanji denominations and red 篆書 seal chops. The palette is earthen — copper-plate sepia line work over a deep engraving-brown ground, with warm paper fields carrying value.