The first stamp to show the face of a person is issued this year -- and the person so honored was Empress Jingū, who had already made her appearance on 1881 banknotes.
However, since no actual images of this legendary figure are known to exist, the representation of Jingū which was artistically contrived by Edoardo Chiossone is entirely conjectural。 The same representation was used on the 1908/14 postage stamps.
Increasingly, mail being sent overseas required high postal charges。 In some cases enough stamps of existing denominations to represent the postal charge could not fit onto the package。 Furthermore, a stamp of 1 yen or higher was requests for establishment of a telephone line。 New stamps were therefore issued which became known as the 'large sum stamps.' These were the first ordinary stamps to feature a person (an image of Empress Jingū) in the design。
The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 damaged the original plates that had been used up until then。 The design was re-drawn and new plates were made。
