Depicts scene 2 of Yadorigi, Chapter 49 of The Picture Scroll of the Tale of Genji. State name above, value below.

The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu in the early years of the 11th century. The original manuscript no longer exists. It was made in "concertina" or orihon style: several sheets of paper pasted together and folded alternately in one direction then the other, around the peak of the Heian period. The work is a unique depiction of the lifestyles of high courtiers during the Heian period, written in archaic language and a poetic and confusing style that makes it unreadable to the average Japanese without dedicated study. It was not until the early 20th century that Genji was translated into modern Japanese, by the poet Akiko Yosano. The first English translation was attempted in 1882, but was of poor quality and incomplete.

The work recounts the life of Hikaru Genji, or "Shining Genji", the son of an ancient Japanese emperor, known to readers as Emperor Kiritsubo, and a low-ranking concubine called Kiritsubo Consort. For political reasons, the emperor removes Genji from the line of succession, demoting him to a commoner by giving him the surname Minamoto, and he pursues a career as an imperial officer. The tale concentrates on Genji's romantic life and describes the customs of the aristocratic society of the time. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be considered a classic. While regarded as a masterpiece, its precise classification and influence in both the Western and Eastern canons has been a matter of debate.

The inner section shows an image of an old Japanese coin (old cast Mon coin) where Kanji letters mean “Local Autonomy”. Latent image technology is applied to the centre of the coin to make letters of “47″ representing the number of prefectures in Japan, and “60″ representing the 60th Anniversary of Enforcement of the Local Autonomy Law appear alternately when viewed from different angles.

The outer ring of the coin depicts the inscription in English above, value in English and the year of issue in Kanji below.

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana and katakana. The date begins with the symbols for the era name Heisei (平成), followed by the era year, and ends with the symbol for year (年).