It is thought that it was in the Muromachi period that money started to be offered as koden together with a simple offering instead of foods for the Samurai class, but it was in or after the Meiji period, and even after World War II in some rural areas, that the same thing happened for ordinary people.
香典が金銭に代わり、食料がその副物として簡単な供物に代わっていくのは、武士階層では室町時代、一般庶民では明治時代以後、一部農村部では戦後に入ってからのことと考えられている。