A ''yeopjeon'' (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 엽전;

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 葉錢; "leaf coin") was a Korean brass coin with a square cut out which was first issued in 1678 and continued until the final years of the

Chosun Dynasty 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 Taejo of Joseon, Yi Seong-gye in ...

. New history of Korea - Page 516 Hyŏn-hŭi Yi, Sŏng-su Pak, Nae-hyŏn Yun - 2005 At this time, the bulk of Korean currency was the so-called ''yeopjeon'' brass coin and a nickel coin. Japan had the existing currency replaced by coins newly minted by a Japanese bank, Daiichi Ginko, and planned the new currency to circulate ... While coins with a similar design had been unsuccessfully used during the earlier

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

period as well. The '' Sangpyeong Tongbo'' (常平通寶) cash coins were known as ''yeopjeon'' because of the way that these cash coins resembled leaves on a branch when they were being cast in the casting mould. In the

western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

all coins with this design are commonly called "cash coins". In 1908 the value of a ''yeopjeon'' was set at 0.2 chon (or won).

Modern influence

* At the Tong-in Market (통인시장), a small market that was established in 1941 during the Japanese occupation period for

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

's Japanese residents outside of the

Gyeongbok Palace Gyeongbokgung (), also known as Gyeongbokgung Palace or Gyeongbok Palace, was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. Built in 1395, it is located in northern Seoul, South Korea. The largest of the ''Five Grand Palaces'' built by the Joseon ...

, people can purchase

token coin In numismatics, token coins or trade tokens are coin-like objects used instead of coins. The field of token coins is part of exonumia and token coins are token money. Their denomination is shown or implied by size, color or shape. They are oft ...

s shaped like ''yeopjeon'' at shops which are members of the "Dosirak Café" (도시락) project to spend at around 70 food stores and restaurants. The shops where these ''yeopjeon'' tokens can be spend have a sign stating "通 도시락 cafe" and these tokens can be bought in

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

of 10 ''yeopjeon''. A single one of these ''yeopjeon'' tokens cost

₩ The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won. Appearance Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the cent ...

500 in 2014.

References

{{Korean cash coin Coins of Korea Cash coins

Modern influence

See also

References