Other months rose by two to five yen.
"It looks like there will be more moves to cover shorts ... and I think therefore that there is room for a further rise," a Tokyo analyst said.
US gold futures ended lower but held near a three-week high on Friday, supported by strong base metals and a flat dollar in thin trade ahead of the President's Day holiday on Monday.
Gold for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division inched down 20 cents to $428.40 an ounce, after rising as high as $429.40.
The session high fell short of Thursday's peak of $429.80, which was gold's loftiest level since January 27.
New York metals trading closed on Friday around noon, and will remain shut for Monday's holiday.
Spot gold was fetching $426.30/$426.70 an ounce at 0630 GMT, down a touch from last US levels of $427.05/$427.80.
Total gold turnover on TOCOM was estimated at a moderate 45,070 lots, down from Friday's 60,062 lots.
The analyst said that TOCOM trading activity was slow due to the US market holiday.
In the currency market, the yen hovered near a 1-1/2-month low against the euro on Monday, meeting cross-selling pressure from higher yielding currencies and amid signs of weakness in the Japanese economy.
The yen was hobbled by last week's data that showed Japan was in a recession for most of 2004, while traders sided with currencies like the Australian dollar, which was boosted by expectations for rising interest rates.
At 0630 GMT, the euro was around 137.97/138.02 yen, versus a 1-1/2-month high of 138.30 struck on Friday. The dollar was little changed at 105.68/105.73 yen. Benchmark December platinum futures closed down one yen at 2,837 yen, after moving between 2,826 yen and 2,850 yen.
Market participants said the metal lacked the momentum to move higher due to an absence of fresh supportive factors.
Other contracts were either flat or fell by five or six yen.
Spot platinum was at $858/$863, easing down from New York levels of $863/$868 an ounce.
Below are closing prices for TOCOM's most active precious metals contracts, with the day's turnover for each metal.