YEN

also called Hsien, Pinyin Yan, type of Chinese bronze vessel produced during the Shang, or Yin (18th12th century Bc ), and Chou (1111255 BC) dynasties. A steamer, or cooking vessel, used particularly for grain, the yen consists of a deep upper bowl with a pierced bottom placed upon or attached to a lower, legged vessel similar in shape to the li. The yen is not usually elaborately decorated. The form is derived from a Neolithic (c. 30001500 BC) pottery predecessor and is found in the bronze art of the Shang dynasty and in that of the Chou, especially the early Chou (1111c. 900 BC). the monetary unit of Japan. It was divided into 100 sen and into 1,000 rin until 1954, when these tiny denominations were removed from circulation. The yen's symbol is Y=, or Y. First minted in 1869, after the Meiji Restoration, the yen was officially adopted as the basic unit in the monetary reform of 1871. In that year, the government suspended the exchange of clan notes, paper money that feudal lords had issued and circulated since the late 16th century. (According to a Ministry of Finance survey of 1868, a total of 1,694 denominations of clan money had been issued by 244 clans, 14 magistrates' offices, and 9 shogunate retainers during the Tokugawa regime.) By 1879 the replacement of clan notes by the yen-based government notes had been completed. The term yen derives from an ancient term for Chinese round money (yan).