The Tenpō Tsūhō (

Kyūjitai ''Kyūjitai'' ( ja, 舊字體 / 旧字体, lit=old character forms) are the traditional forms of kanji, Chinese written characters used in Japanese. Their simplified counterparts are ''shinjitai'' ( ja, 新字体, lit=new character forms, lab ...

: /;

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 extensiv ...

: ) was an

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

coin with a face value of 100 mon, 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, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" 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 def ...

. The

Kaō A ''huaya'' ("Flower Print"; ; ko, 화압, Hwaap; ja, 花押, Kaō) is a stylized signature or mark used in East Asian cultures in place of a true signature. Originating from China, the ''huaya'' was historically used by prominent figures such ...

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 perceived ...

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

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

appointed by ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators 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, though during part of the Kamakur ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

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

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Neologism, coinage of a new word * ''COINage'', numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Protologism, coinage of a seldom used new term See also * Coining (disambiguatio ...

. All

mother coin Mother coins (), alternatively known as ''seed coins'' or ''matrix coins'', were coins used during the early stages of the casting process to produce Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Ryukyuan, and Vietnamese cash coins. As cash coins were produced u ...

s were produced in Edo (present day

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

) 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

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 (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the ...

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

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

History

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

: 寳永通寳 ;

: 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 . Change of era * 1704 : In reaction to the Great Genroku earthquake in Genroku 16, the era name ...

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 shogunat ...

'' 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. A coin is said to be debased if the quantity of gold, silver, copper or nick ...

of the copper in the 100 mon denomination (5½ times a 1 mon ''Kan'ei Tsūhō'' coin) which lead to chronic

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...

in commodity prices, this has been compared by

economic historians Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and inst ...

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 imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

due to the

Taiping rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...

in 1853, or the 100 mun coin issued by the

Kingdom of Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

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 the ...

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

Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government ...

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 domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...

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 n ...

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 e ...

(under the guise of producing currency for the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in the ...

), 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 minted legal tender. Coins of interest to collectors often include those that were in circulation for only a brief time, coins with mint errors, and especially beautiful or historic ...

had become popular in Japan which lead

Ezaki Glico , commonly known as just 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 b ...

to give away ''Tenpō Tsūhō'' coins as

prizes A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

to children who had collected points which could be accumulated from purchasing Ezaki Glico

caramel Caramel ( or ) is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, or as a topping for ice cream and custard. The process of caramelizatio ...

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'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, th ...

'', 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 should not be confused with a mintmaster mark which is the mark of the mintmaster. History Mint marks were first developed to locate ...

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

【会津藩銭】– detailed information about the variants of the Tenpō Tsūhō
(in Japanese)
Price guide for numismatists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenpō Tsūhō Modern obsolete currencies Coins of Japan One-hundred-base-unit coins 19th century in Japan Cash coins by inscription