The coin circulated for 40 years, and stopped being produced during the Meiji Restoration after the introduction of the Japanese yen.

[11][12] The Tokugawa government started issuing the 100 mon coin in 1835 as a way to combat its fiscal deficit, but due to the debasement of the copper in the 100 mon denomination (5½ times a 1 mon Kan'ei Tsūhō coin)[13] which lead to chronic inflation in commodity prices, this has been compared by economic historians to the inflation caused by the introduction of the 100 wén minted by the Qing dynasty due to the Taiping rebellion in 1853, or the 100 mun coin issued by the Kingdom of Joseon in 1866, both of which were also cast to combat government deficits.

Unlike the Chinese 100 wén whose production stopped after a single year,[14] and the Korean 100 mun which was only produced for 172 days,[15] the Tenpō Tsūhō continued to be produced for the duration of the Edo period.

[17] From 1862 a similar coin with a nominal value of 100 mon based on the Tenpō Tsūhō was minted by the Satsuma domain under the reign of daimyō Shimazu Nariakira (under the guise of producing currency for the Ryukyu Kingdom), as with the Tenpō Tsūhō this was done to combat that domain's deficit.

[18][19][20] In the 1950s coin collecting had become popular in Japan which lead Ezaki Glico to give away Tenpō Tsūhō coins as prizes to children who had collected points which could be accumulated from purchasing Ezaki Glico caramel boxes.