1 Mun Ho

The "Ho" suffix on this issue designates it as struck by the Hojo, the Board of Taxation in Seoul, one of several competing government bureaus authorized to mint cash coins during the latter Joseon period. Central authority over coinage was never fully consolidated; the result was a proliferation of mint marks distinguishing output by issuing office rather than by geographic mint in the Western sense.

KM#31 falls within the long Sangpyeong Tongbo series, which ran continuously from 1633 onward after chronic copper shortages and failed paper currency experiments forced the court to recommit to metallic coinage.