The Tenpō Tsūhō (;

kyūjitai ''Kyūjitai'' () are the traditional forms of kanji (Chinese written characters used in Japanese writing). Their simplified counterparts are '' shinjitai'' (). Some of the simplified characters arose centuries ago and were in everyday use in bot ...

: or ) was an

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

coin with a face value of 100

mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...

, originally cast in the 6th year of the

Tenpō was a after '' Bunsei'' and before '' Kōka.'' The period spanned from December 1830 through December 1844. The reigning emperor was . Introduction Change of era * December 10, 1830 () : In the 13th year of ''Bunsei'', the new era name of ...

era (1835). The obverse of the coin reads "Tenpō" () a reference to the era this coin was designed in, and "Tsūhō" () which means "circulating treasure" or

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

. The Kaō is that of Gotō San'emon, a member of the

Kinza was the Tokugawa shogunate's officially sanctioned gold monopoly or gold guild ('' za'') which was created in 1595. Initially, the Tokugawa shogunate was interested in assuring a consistent value in minted gold coins; and this led to the perceive ...

mint's Gotō family (), descendants of Gotō Shozaburo Mitsutsugu, a metalworker and engraver from

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

appointed by ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

in 1600 to oversee the Edo mint of his shogunate and oversee its

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Coining (mint), the process of manufacturing coins * '' COINage'', a numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Coinage, a protologism or neologism In linguistics, a neolo ...

. All mother coins were produced in

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

(present day

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

) before they were sent to other mints where they would place the individual mint's mark (''shirushi'', ) on the edge of the coin. The coin circulated for 40 years, and stopped being produced during the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

after the introduction of the

Japanese yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. Th ...

. Today these coins are now sold as "lucky charms" as well as being collected by

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...

History

The ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' came around a century after the introduction of the ''Hōei Tsūhō'' (

Kyūjitai ''Kyūjitai'' () are the traditional forms of kanji (Chinese written characters used in Japanese writing). Their simplified counterparts are '' shinjitai'' (). Some of the simplified characters arose centuries ago and were in everyday use in bot ...

: 寳永通寳 ;

Shinjitai are the simplified forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in ''shinjitai'' are also found in simplified Chinese characters, but ''shinjitai'' is generally not as exten ...

: 宝永通宝) during the 5th year of the

Hōei was a after Genroku and before Shōtoku''.'' This period spanned the years from March 1704 through April 1711. The reigning emperors were and . Etymology ''Hōei'' comes from the Old Book of Tang (). Change of era * 1704 : In reaction to t ...

era (1708), which had a face value of 10 mon (while only containing 3 times as much copper as a 1 mon ''

Kan'ei Tsūhō The Kan'ei Tsūhō (Kyūjitai: 寛永通寳; Shinjitai: 寛永通宝) was a Japanese mon (currency), Japanese mon coin in use from 1626 until 1868 during the Edo period. In 1636, the ''Kan'ei Tsūhō'' coin was introduced by the Tokugawa shoguna ...

'' coin), but was discontinued shortly after it started circulating as it wasn't accepted for its nominal value. The Tokugawa government started issuing the 100 mon coin in 1835 as a way to combat its fiscal deficit, but due to the

debasement A debasement of coinage is the practice of lowering the intrinsic value of coins, especially when used in connection with commodity money, such as gold or silver coins, while continuing to circulate it at face value. A coin is said to be debased ...

of the copper in the 100 mon denomination ( times a 1 mon ''Kan'ei Tsūhō'' coin) which lead to chronic

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

in commodity prices, this has been compared by

economic historians Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of ...

to the inflation caused by the introduction of the 100 wén minted by the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

due to the

Taiping rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of ...

in 1853, or the 100 mun coin issued by the

Kingdom of Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

in 1866, both of which were also cast to combat government deficits. Unlike the Chinese 100 wén whose production stopped after a single year, and the Korean 100 mun which was only produced for 172 days, the ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' continued to be produced for the duration of the Edo period. Despite this the actual

market value Market value or OMV (open market valuation) is the price at which an asset would trade in a competitive auction setting. Market value is often used interchangeably with ''open market value'', ''fair value'' or '' fair market value'', although t ...

of the ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' was significantly lower than its face value and was estimated only at 80 mon during the end of the

Bakumatsu were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate Meiji Restoration, ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a Feudali ...

in 1869, while the coin had become the most commonly circulated mon denomination; accounting for 65% of all mons circulating at the time. Between 1835 and 1870 a total of 484,804,054 ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' coins were produced. Ryukyu-tsuho-tohyaku

From 1862 a similar coin with a nominal value of 100 mon based on the ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' was minted by the

Satsuma domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

under the reign of ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

Shimazu Nariakira was a Japanese feudal lord (''daimyō'') of the Edo period, the 28th in the line of Shimazu clan lords of Satsuma Domain. He was renowned as an intelligent and wise lord, and was greatly interested in Western learning and technology. He was ...

(under the guise of producing currency for the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

), as with the ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' this was done to combat that domain's deficit. This proved successful and the Satsuma coin started to circulate all over Japan as well.

Glico Caramel Box imitation coins

In the 1950s

coin collecting Coin collecting is the collecting of coins or other forms of Mint (facility), minted legal tender. Coins of interest to collectors include beautiful, rare, and historically significant pieces. Collectors may be interested, for example, in co ...

had become popular in Japan which lead

Ezaki Glico , commonly known as Glico, is a Japanese multinational food processing company headquartered in Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka. It does business across 30 countries, in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Overview Ezaki Glico's primary busin ...

to give away ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' coins as prizes to children who had collected points which could be accumulated from purchasing Ezaki Glico

caramel Caramel ( or ) is a range of food ingredients made by heating sugars to high temperatures. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, as a topping for ice cream and custard, and as a colorant ...

boxes. As Ezaki Glico soon ran out of genuine ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' coins they started producing near identical fake ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' coins to meet the demand, these imitation ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' tend to have deeper cut characters on the coin's reverse. These Glico-produced coins are worth more than genuine ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' because of their scarcity.

Cultural references

* The ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' is a collectable item in the 2013 American video game ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game series created by British video game developer Core Design. The franchise i ...

'', which can be obtained inside the Cliffside Bunker on Yamatai.

Collectability

''Tenpō Tsūhō'' coins are a prized coin in the numismatic community, but as over two dozen variants exist the price of each coin is dependent not only on the quality of the individual coin but on various other factors such as

mint mark A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. It is distinct from a mintmaster mark, the mark of the mintmaster. History Mint marks were first developed to locate a problem. If a co ...

s and era, ranging from ¥1,250 (or around $12) to ¥300,000 (or around $2,800), though more worn out coins sell for as low as $4.''The Standard Catalog of World Coins'' (19th Century 3rd edition) – Krause & Mishler. (Catalog Nos. C#7.1 & C#7.2)

References

External links