) coins. The top ones were each worth 4 mon , the middle and
bottom ones were worth 1 mon ). Branched ("Edasen" 枝銭) Mon coins
of the Bunkyū period. This shows the foundry technique to make
the coins: the coins would then be clipped and filed to obtain
the final round shape. The mon (文) was a currency of Japan from
the Muromachi period in 1336, until 1870. The Chinese character
for mon is 文 and the character for currency was widely used in
the Chinese-character cultural sphere, e.g. Chinese wen and
Korean mun. Coins denominated in mon were cast in copper or iron
and circulated alongside silver and gold ingots denominated in
shu, bu and ryō, with 4000 mon = 16 shu = 4 bu = 1 ryo. The yen
replaced these denominations in 1870. However, its usage
continued at least into 1871, as the first Japanese stamps,
issued in that year, were denominated in mon. Mon coins were
holed, allowing them to be strung together on a piece of string.
Through Japanese history, there were many different styles of
currency of many shapes,