List of people on the postage stamps of Japan

In 1896 the first persons to be depicted on a stamp were Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa (1847–1895) and Prince Arisugawa Taruhito (1835–1895) in honor of their role in the First Sino-Japanese War that ended one year earlier.

Instead an artistical representation by Edoardo Chiossone was used for the bank note, modelled after a female employee of the Government Printing Bureau which lead to a western appearance.

However the printing plates were destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and a revised design by Yoshida Toyo was used for stamps issued in 1924 with a more Asian appearance.

After World War II the first person depicted on a stamp was in 1946 as part of a definitive series Baron Maejima Hisoka (1835–1919), the founder of the Japanese postal service.

[8][9] This following table lists people who have been featured on Japanese postage stamps before 2007 in alphabetic order of their last name.