I am pulling apart a pile of definitive stamp series from Japan issued from 1913 to 1937 called the Tazawa series, after their designer.
Following the death of Emperor Meiji, the Japanese government held its first-ever open prize competition to select a new standard stamp design.
Tazawa Shōgen was an employee of the Japanese Printing Bureau and won this national contest to design the country’s standard definitive stamps in 1913.
The stamps typically feature the Imperial Chrysanthemum crest, floral motifs, or national coats of arms and were used extensively for domestic and international mail.
The characters at the top say “Greater Japan Imperial Postal Service”.
The vertical characters is Japanese for ½ Sen, the denomination. The chrysanthemum symbol below the characters appeared on almost every Japanese stamp up to World War II and symbolizes nobility, longevity, and rejuvenation.
Introduced from China, it holds ultimate royal significance, with this stylized, 16-petal version serving as the Imperial Seal.
The design was printed on granite paper, a paper with fine colored threads in.