Hanko – Inkan – Insho
- Published 2010.7.13
Insho is a type of seal or stamp which verifies ones authority, using it on official and private documents ensures that it the person or group is who they say they are.
Letters or symbols are carved onto the face of the seal. In most cases, Chinese characters are used, but tensho characters or clerical script is sometimes also used, to make it harder to commit forgery.
Trying to forge an insho is a crime.
Insho are used in Japan, China, Taiwan and other East Asian countries. In all other places, a saignature is used in its place.
Insho (印章) can also be called hanko (判子), han (判), or in (印). The impression made from the insho on a piece of paper is called the in’ei (印影 lit. seal shadow). The words insho (印章)and inkan (印鑑) originally meant the stamp and the impression on paper, respectively, but now they are both interpreted as the same thing.
Materials of Insho
Insho are commonly made from wood, ivory, or water buffalo horns.
