User:Corphine/sandbox/1/Seal (China)/Influences

Japan

{{{1}}}

Hanko off-the-shelf (sanmonban)

Ready-made inkan with the name "Kawamura" (河村).

In Japan, seals in general are referred to as inkan (印鑑) or hanko (判子). Inkan is the most comprehensive term; hanko tends to refer to seals used in less important documents.

The first evidence of writing in Japan is a hanko dating from AD 57, made of solid gold given to the ruler of Nakoku by Emperor Guangwu of Han. At first, only the Emperor and his most trusted vassals held hanko, as they were a symbol of the Emperor's authority. Noble people began using their own personal hanko after 750, and samurai began using them sometime during the Feudal Period. Samurai were permitted exclusive use of red ink. After modernization began in 1870, hanko finally came into general use throughout Japanese society.

The material is usually a high quality hard stone, and far less frequently deerhorn, soapstone, or jade. It's sometimes carved by machine. When it's carved by hand, an intō ("seal-engraving blade"), a mirror, and a small specialized wooden vice are used. An intō is a flat-bladed pencil-sized chisel, usually round or octagonal in cross-section and sometimes wrapped in string to give the handle a non-slip surface. The intō is held vertically in one hand, with the point projecting from one's fist on the side opposite one's thumb. New, modern intō range in price from less than US$1 to US$100.

Government offices and corporations usually have inkan specific to their bureau or company, and which follow the general rules outlined for jitsuin with the following exceptions. In size, they are comparatively enormous, measuring 2 to 4 inches (5.1 to 10.2 cm) across. Their handles are often extremely ornately carved with friezes of mythical beasts or hand-carved hakubun inscriptions that might be quotes from literature, names and dates, or original poetry. Some have been carved with square tunnels from handle to underside, so that a specific person can slide his own inkan into the hollow, thus signing a document with both his own name and his business's (or bureau's) name. These seals are usually stored in jitsuin-style boxes under high security except at official ceremonies, at which they are displayed on extremely ornate stands or in their boxes.

In modern Japan, most people have several inkan, although the increasing ease with which modern technology allows hanko fraud is beginning to cause some concern that the present system will not be able to survive. A certificate of authenticity is required for any hanko used in a significant business transaction. Registration and certification of an inkan may be obtained in a local municipal office (e.g. city hall). There, a person receives a "certificate of seal impression" known as inkan tōroku shōmei-sho (印鑑登録証明書).

Personal uses

A modern gagō-in for the Japanese name "Mitsuko".

A foreigner's ginkō-in displayed in a typical Japanese savings account passbook.

For personal use, there are at least four kinds of seals. In order from most formal/official to least, they are: registered seal jitsuin, bank seal ginkō-in, unregistered seal/name seal mitome-in and pseudonym seal gagō-in. For most transactions in Japan, signatures are not required. But in some cases, such as signing a cell phone contract, a signature might be compulsory, sometimes in addition to a stamp from a mitome-in. For these transactions, a jitsuin is too official, while a mitome-in alone is insufficient, and thus signatures are used.

Registered seal

A registered seal (jitsuin, ) refers to an officially registered seal, which is needed to conduct business and other important or legally binding events, such as when purchasing a vehicle, marrying, purchasing land, and so on.

The size, shape, material, decoration, and lettering style of jitsuin are closely regulated by law. For example, in Hiroshima, a jitsuin is expected to be roughly 1⁄2 to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 cm), usually square or (rarely) rectangular but never round, irregular, or oval, and must contain the individual's full family and given name, without abbreviation. The lettering must be red with a white background (shubun), with roughly equal width lines used throughout the name. The font must be one of several based on ancient historical lettering styles found in metal, woodcarving, and so on; ancient forms of ideographs are commonplace. A red perimeter must entirely surround the name, and there should be no other decoration on the underside (working surface) of the seal, though the top and sides (handle) of the seal may be decorated in any fashion from completely undecorated to historical animal motifs to dates, names, and inscriptions.

Throughout Japan, rules governing jitsuin design are so stringent and each design so unique that the vast majority of people entrust the creation of their jitsuin to a professional, paying upward of US$20 and more often closer to US$100, and will use it for decades. People desirous of opening a new chapter in their lives—say, following a divorce, death of a spouse, a long streak of bad luck, or a change in career—will often have a new jitsuin made.

The jitsuin is always kept in a very secure place such as a bank vault or hidden carefully in one's home. They're usually stored in thumb-sized rectangular boxes made of cardboard covered with heavily embroidered green fabric outside and red silk or red velvet inside, held closed by a white plastic or deerhorn splinter tied to the lid and passed through a fabric loop attached to the lower half of the box. Because of the superficial resemblance to coffins, they're often called "coffins" in Japanese by enthusiasts and hanko boutiques. The paste is usually stored separately.

Bank seal

A bank seal (ginkō-in, ) is used specifically for banking; ginkō means "bank". A person's savings account passbook contains an original impression of the ginkō-in alongside a bank employee's seal. Rules for the size and design vary somewhat from bank to bank; generally, they contain a Japanese person's full name; a Westerner may be permitted to use a full family name with or without an abbreviated given name, such as "Smith", "Bill Smith", "W Smith" or "Wm Smith" in place of "William Smith". The lettering can be red or white, in any font, and with artistic decoration.

Most people have them custom-made by professionals or make their own by hand, since mass-produced ginkō-in would offer no security. They are wood or stone and carried about in a variety of thumb-shaped and -sized cases resembling cloth purses or plastic pencil cases. They are usually hidden carefully in the owner's home.

Banks always provide stamp pads or ink paste, in addition to dry cleansing tissues. The banks also provide small plastic scrubbing surfaces similar to small patches of red artificial grass. These are attached to counters and used to scrub the accumulated ink paste from the working surface of customers' seals.

Name seal

A name seal (mitome-in, ) is a moderately formal seal typically used for signing for postal deliveries, signing utility bill payments, signing internal company memos, confirming receipt of internal company mail, and other low-security everyday functions.

Mitome-in are commonly stored in low-security, high-utility places such as office desk drawers and in the anteroom (genkan) of a residence.

A mitome-in's form is governed by far fewer customs than jitsuin and ginkō-in. However, mitome-in adhere to a handful of strongly observed customs. The size is the attribute most strongly governed by social custom. It is usually the size of an American penny or smaller. A male's is usually slightly larger than a female's, and a junior employee's is always smaller than his bosses' and his senior co-workers', in keeping with office social hierarchy. The mitome-in always has the person's family name, and usually does not have the person's given name (shita no namae). They are often round or oval, but square ones are not uncommon, and rectangular ones are not unheard-of. They are always geometric figures. They can have red lettering on a blank field (shubun) or the opposite (hakubun). Borderlines around their edges are optional.

Plastic mitome-in in popular Japanese names can be obtained from stationery stores for less than US$1, though ones made from inexpensive stone are also very popular. Inexpensive prefabricated seals are called 'sanmonban' (三文判). Prefabricated rubber stamps are unacceptable for business purposes.

Mitome-in and lesser seals are usually stored in inexpensive plastic cases, sometimes with small supplies of red paste or a stamp pad included.

Pseudonym seal

Pseudonym seals (gagō-in, ) are used by graphic artists to both decorate and sign their work. The practice goes back several hundred years. The signatures are frequently pen names or nicknames; the decorations are usually favorite slogans or other extremely short phrases. A gago in can be any size, design, or shape. Irregular naturally occurring outlines and handles, as though a river stone were cut in two, are commonplace. The material may be anything, though in modern times soft stone is the most common and metal is rare.

Most Japanese also have a far less formal seal used to sign personal letters or initial changes in documents; this is referred to by the also broadly generic term hanko. They often display only a single hiragana, kanji ideograph, or katakana character carved in it, They are as often round or oval as they are square. They vary in size from 0.5-to-1.5-centimetre wide (0.20 to 0.59 in); women's tend to be small.

Korea

{{{1}}}

Bronze Korean seal, dated between 935 and 1392

The seal was first introduced to Korea in approximately 2nd century BCE. The remaining oldest record of its usage in Korea is that kings of Buyeo used a royal seal (oksae: 옥새, 玉璽) which bore the inscription of Seal of the King of Ye (濊王之印, 예왕지인). The use of seals became popular during the Three Kingdoms of Korea period.

In the case of State Seals in monarchic Korea, there were two types in use: Gugin (국인, 國印) which was conferred by the Emperor of China to Korean kings, with the intent of keeping relations between two countries as brothers (Sadae). This was used only in communications with China and for the coronation of kings. Others, generally called eobo (어보, 御寶) or eosae (어새, 御璽), are used in foreign communications with countries other than China, and for domestic uses. With the declaration of establishment of Republic of Korea in 1948, its government created a new State Seal, guksae (국새, 國璽) and it is used in promulgation of constitution, designation of cabinet members and ambassadors, conference of national orders and important diplomatic documents.

Seals were also used by government officials in documents. These types of seals were called gwanin (관인, 官印) and it was supervised by specialist officials.

In traditional arts, like in China and Japan, an artist of Chinese calligraphy and paintings would use their seals (generally leisure seals and studio seals) to identify his/her work. These types of seals were called Nakkwan (낙관, 落款). As seal-carving itself was considered a form of art, many artists carved their own seals. Seals of Joseon-period calligraphist and natural historian Kim Jung-hee (aka Wandang or Chusa) are considered as antiquity.

In modern Korea, the use of seals is still common. Most Koreans have personal seals, and every government agency and commercial corporation has its own seals to use in public documents. While signing is also accepted, many Koreans think it is more formal to use seals in public documents. However, in 2008 the Constitutional Court of South-Korea upheld a Supreme court judgement that a signed and handwritten will which lacked a registered seal was invalid.

Personal seals (dojang in general reference) in Korea can be classified by their legal status. Ingam (인감, 印鑑) or sirin (실인, 實印), meaning registered seal, is the seal which is registered to local office. By registering the seal, a person can issue a "certificate of seal registration" (ingam-jungmyeong-seo (인감증명서, 印鑑證明書) in Korean) which is a required document for most significant business transactions and civil services. The legal system of registered seals was introduced by the Japanese colonial government in 1914, however it is slated to be replaced by an electronic certification system in 2013 in order to counter fraud. While ingam is used in important business, other dojangs are used in everyday purpose such as less-significant official transactions. Thus most Koreans have more than two seals.

Korean seals are made of wood, jade, or sometimes ivory for more value. State Seals were generally made of gold or high-quality jade. Rare cases of bronze or steel seals exist.

Seal of Ilkhan Ghazan, over the last two lines of his 1302 letter to Pope Boniface VIII. It reads "王府定國理民之寶" in Chinese script, meaning "Seal certifying the authority of his Royal Highness to establish a country and govern its people".

Other cultural contexts

{{{1}}}

While Chinese seals are typically used in China, Japan and Korea, it could be occasionally used outside these countries. For example, the rulers of the Ilkhanate, a Mongol khanate established by Hulagu Khan in Persia, used seals containing Chinese characters in each of their diplomatic letters, such as the letter from Arghun to French King Philip IV and the letter from Ghazan to Pope Boniface VIII. These seals were sent by the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty, a ruling dynasty of China and Mongolia, especially Kublai Khan and his successor Emperor Chengzong.

References

This section appears on this page only.