Seals in the Sinosphere

Last updated
or 圖章 or 印章ᠲᠠᠮᠠᠭ᠎ᠠ12 to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 cm), usually square or (rarely) rectangular but never round, irregular, or oval. It 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. The top and sides (handle) of the seal may be decorated in any fashion from completely undecorated to historical animal motifs, dates, names, and inscriptions.

Throughout Japan, rules governing jitsuin design are very stringent and each design is unique, so 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 using 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 material is usually a high quality hard stone or, far less frequently, deerhorn, soapstone, or jade. It is sometimes carved by machine. When 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 a better grip. The intō is held vertically in one hand, with the point projecting from the carver's fist on the side opposite the thumb. New, modern intō range in price from less than US$1 to US$100.

The jitsuin are kept in secure places such as bank vaults. or hidden in a home. They are usually stored in thumb-sized rectangular boxes made of cardboard covered with 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 are often called "coffins" in Japanese by enthusiasts and hanko boutiques. The paste is usually stored separately.

Ginkō-in

A foreigner's ginko-in displayed in a savings passbook. Note the boundary limiting its size to 1.0 cm x 1.5 cm (0.39 in x 0.59 in) and extreme freedom in design. Ginko-in.png
A foreigner's ginkō-in displayed in a savings passbook. Note the boundary limiting its size to 1.0 cm × 1.5 cm (0.39 in × 0.59 in) and extreme freedom in design.

A ginkō-in (銀行印) 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.

Since mass-produced ginkō-in offer no security, most people either have them custom-made by professionals or make their own by hand. They were traditionally made of wood or stone; more recently of ivory, plastic or metal, and carried in a variety of thumb-shape and -size 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, and dry cleaning 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.

Mitome-in

Off-the-shelf Hanko (sanmonban) Hanko 2.jpg
Off-the-shelf Hanko (sanmonban)

A mitome-in ( 認印 ) 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 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 not more than 20 millimetres (0.79 in) in size. A man's is usually slightly larger than a woman'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). Mitome-ins are often round or oval, but square ones are not uncommon, and rectangular ones are not unheard-of; irregular shapes are not used. They can produce 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 ). 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.

Most Japanese also have a less formal seal used to sign personal letters or initial changes in documents; this is referred to by the 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.

Gagō-in

A modern gago-in spelling out "Mitsuko" (Guang Zi ), a popular woman's name. Note the uniform line widths, archaic text style, and right-to-left direction. Inkan gago-in for Mitsuko old kanji.gif
A modern gagō-in spelling out "Mitsuko" (光子), a popular woman's name. Note the uniform line widths, archaic text style, and right-to-left direction.

Gagō-in (雅号印) 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 gagō 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.

Traditionally, inkan and hanko are engraved on the end of a finger-length stick of stone, wood, bone, or ivory, with a diameter between 25 and 75 millimetres (0.98 and 2.95 in). Their carving is a form of calligraphic art. Foreign names may be carved in rōmaji, katakana, hiragana, or kanji. Inkan for standard Japanese names may be purchased prefabricated.

Almost every stationery store, discount store, large book store, and department store carries small do-it-yourself kits for making hanko. These include instructions, hiragana fonts written forward and in mirror-writing (as required on the working surface of a seal), a slim in tou chisel, two or three grades of sandpaper, slim marker pen (to draw the design on the stone), and one to three mottled, inexpensive, soft square green finger-size stones.

In modern Japan, most people have several inkan.

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 ).

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.

Signatures are not used for most transactions, but in some cases, such as signing a cell phone contract, they may be used, 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. [15] [16]

Discouragement

During 2020, the Japanese government has been attempting to discourage the use of seals, because the practice requires generation of paper documents that interfere with electronic record-keeping and slow digital communications. The delay has been most pressing in infectious disease reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic: officials found it took up to three days between a case of COVID-19 being discovered and it being reported to the public. Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga had set the digitalization of the bureaucracy and ultimately of Japan's entire society as a key priority. He aimed to establish a new digital agency to put the idea into practice. [17] Ministries were urged to end hanko requirements for 785 types of procedure, 96% of the total, including tax documents. Most business people favoured discontinuing hanko, but half considered that it would be difficult to do so. Politicians also opposed discontinuing their regional hand-carved hanko—a "symbol of Japan". [18]

Korean usage

Bronze Korean seal, dated between 935 and 1392 Korean - Seal with Lion - Walters 543028 - Mark A.jpg
Bronze Korean seal, dated between 935 and 1392

The seal was first introduced to Korea in approximately 2nd century BC. The remaining oldest record of its usage in Korea is that kings of Buyeo used a royal seal (oksae; Korean : 옥새; Hanja : 玉璽) which bore the inscription of Seal of the King of Ye (예왕지인;濊王之印). 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. 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.[ citation needed ] 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 are still commonly used in South Korea. 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. In 2008, the Constitutional Court of South Korea upheld a Supreme court judgement that a signed handwritten will without a registered seal was invalid. [19] Korean seals are made of wood, jade, or sometimes ivory for more value. State Seals were generally made of gold or high-quality jade. There are rare cases of bronze or steel seals.

Personal seals

Personal seals (Korean : 도장; RR : dojang) in Korea can be classified by their legal status. Ingam (인감, 印鑑) or sirin (실인, 實印), meaning registered seal, is a seal which has been registered by a local office, attested by a "certificate of seal registration", (Korean : 인감증명서; Hanja : 印鑑證明書; RR : ingam-jungmyeong-seo) a document required for most significant business transactions and civil services.

The legal system of registered seals was introduced by the Japanese colonial government in 1914. While it was scheduled to be completely replaced by an electronic certification system in 2013 in order to counter fraud, as of 2021ingam still remains an official means of verification for binding legal agreement and identification. [20] The government passed the 'Act on Confirmation, etc. of Personal Signature (본인서명사실 확인 등에 관한 법률)' in 2012, which gives registered handwritten signatures the same legal effect as ingam. [21]

While ingam is used on important business, other dojangs are used for everyday purposes, such as less-significant official transactions. Thus most Koreans have more than two seals.

In traditional arts, as in China and Japan, an artist of Chinese calligraphy and paintings would use seals (generally leisure seals and studio seals) to identify their work. These types of seals were called Nakkwan (낙관, 落款). As seal-carving was also 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 to be antiques.

Mongolian usage

While Chinese-style seals are typically used in China, Japan, and Korea, they are occasionally used outside East Asia. For example, the rulers of the Ilkhanate, a Mongol khanate established by Hulagu Khan in Persia, used seals containing Chinese characters in 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 Mongol-ruled dynasty of China, especially by Kublai Khan and his successor Emperor Chengzong.

Singaporean usage

The seal has been present in all Singapore dollar banknotes since its first series, bearing the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) or the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore (BCCS). [22]

Vietnamese usage

The seal is used to a lesser extent in Vietnam by authorised organisations and businesses, and also traditional Vietnamese artists. It was more common in Vietnam prior to French rule and the abolition of the Nguyễn dynasty, when signatures became the usual practice, although usually seen as having less authority in a corporate environment. [23]

See also

Notes

  1. Seals in Vietnam have different names based on their function, namely Bảo (寶), Tỷ (璽), Ấn (印), Chương (章), Kim bảo tỷ (金寶璽), Quan phòng (關防), Đồ ký (圖記), Kiềm ký (鈐記), Tín ký (信記), Ấn Ký (印記), Trưởng ký (長記), and Ký (記).

References

Citations

  1. "Nanjing Civic Bureau Signs Licensing Agreement With CIC China for Electronic Signature". Communication Intelligence Corporation (CIC). 14 May 2001. Archived from the original on 11 April 2005.
  2. Hobson-Jobson (1903): A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words, Article «Chop»; The dictionary of trade products (1890). Article «Chhap».
  3. "Name Seal(2018)". Les Ateliers de Japon. Archived from the original on 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 "Chinese Seals". ChinaCulture.org. January 2008. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yu Yibo (Curator, China Online Museum) (2021). "Chinese Seals". China Online Museum (WelCOMe to the real COM!). Archived from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kai-lung Ho (Lecturer, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Community College - School of Humanities and General Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong) (2012). "The Myth of the Seal Transmitting the State in the Yuan and Qing Dynasties". New History Journal (新史學雜誌) - Academia Sinica. Archived from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. 1 2 VietNamNet Bridge (10 February 2016). "No royal seal left in Hue today. VietNamNet Bridge – It is a great regret that none of more than 100 seals of the Nguyen emperors are in Hue City today". VietNam Breaking News. Archived from the original on 16 July 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  8. TS. Nguyễn Đình Chiến (24 January 2018). "Bảo vật Quốc gia: Ấn ngọc Đại Nam thụ thiên vĩnh mệnh truyền quốc tỷ" (in Vietnamese). BẢO TÀNG LỊCH SỬ QUỐC GIA (VIETNAM NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY). Archived from the original on 16 July 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  9. "图文:毛主席亲手定印文--新中国的"开国之玺"_新闻_腾讯网". qq.com. Archived from the original on 2018-11-19. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  10. Cheung, Mao (26 November 2017). "追尋圖章街千古一絕" [Seeking the historic craft of Seal Street]. Ta Kung Pao (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  11. Lim, Lisa (2016-07-28). "Where does the word 'chop' come from?". South China Morning Post . Archived from the original on 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  12. 1 2 Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, ISBN   4-7674-2015-6
  13. "Gold Seal (Kin-in)". Fukuoka City Museum. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  14. Kerr, George. Okinawa: History of an Island People.
  15. Liu, Yin-Miao (August 7, 2004). "Visually sealed and digitally signed electronic documents : building on Asian tradition". Archived from the original on March 29, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2021 via eprints.qut.edu.au.
  16. Liu, Vicky; Caelli, William; Foo, Ernest; Russell, Selwyn (August 7, 2004). Estivill-Castro, V. (ed.). Computer Science 2004. Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Australasian Computer Science Conference (ACSC2004). Australian Computer Society. pp. 287–294. ISBN   9781920682057. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2021 via eprints.qut.edu.au.
  17. Denyer, Simon. Japan wants to shred its paper habit. Could it finally leave the fax behind? Archived 2020-12-10 at the Wayback Machine Washington Post (17 October 2020)
  18. McCurry, Justin (6 August 2021). "Japanese fax fans rally to defence of much-maligned machine". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  19. "One's Testament Needs Seal: Court". Dong-A Ilbo. 31 March 2008. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  20. Na Jeong-ju (29 July 2009). "'Ingam' to Disappear in 5 Years". Korea Times. Archived from the original on 14 December 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  21. "Act on Confirmation, etc. of Personal Signature". Statutes of the Republic of Korea. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  22. "Circulation Currency: Notes". www.mas.gov.sg. Monetary Authority of Singapore. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  23. "Vietnam's Stamp of Approval - Corporate/Commercial Law - Vietnam". www.mondaq.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-07. Retrieved 2021-08-07.

Sources

  • Kong Yunbai 孔雲白, Zhuanke Rumen 篆刻入門. Shanghai Book Publishings 上海書店印行: Shanghai, 1936.
  • Qu Leilei, Chinese Calligraphy. Cico Books Ltd.: London, 2002.
  • Wang Jia-nan; Cai Xiaoli and Young, Dawn; The Complete Oriental Painting Course: A structured, practical guide to painting skills and techniques of China and the Far East. Quarto Publishing plc. and Aurum Press: London, 1997.
  • Wren, Christopher S. Chinese Chops: A Signature in Stone Archived 2017-11-28 at the Wayback Machine . New York Times. 10 February 1985.
  • Masterpieces of Japanese Prints: Ukiyo-e from the Victoria and Albert Museum by Rupert Faulkner, Basil William Robinson, Richard Lane, Victoria and Albert Museum
Seal
Xu yin Yongyu.jpg
徐永裕印 Xú Yǒngyù yìn, rotating characters meaning "Seal of Xú Yǒngyù")
Simplified Chinese 印鉴 or 图章 or 印章
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin yìnjiàn or túzhāng or yìnzhāng
Gan
Romanizationingan or inzong
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization yan gaam or tòuh jēung or yan jēung
Jyutping jan3 gaam3 or tou4 zoeng1 or jan3 zoeng1
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ ìn-kàm or tô͘-chiong / tô͘-chiang or ìn-chiong / ìn-chiang
Transcriptions
SASM/GNC Tamag'a / Tamga