Coin
Bronze - Mid-nineteenth century
Bronze coin from Japan
This bronze coin is from Japan. It is shaped like a tsuba, a Japanese sword guard, with a central square hole and raised rim. It dates from the Tenpō era [1830-1844] in Japan, but was in circulation from around 1835 until 1870, when the yen was introduced.
On one side the inscribed characters refer to the Tenpō era. On the other side, the first character means variously 'to reach' or 'to attain', and the second character is the number 100. Together they denote that this coin has the value of 100 'Mon'.
Museum object number