The Signature Stamp (Hanko and Inkan)

My first attempt at stamping with this thing was embarrassingly weak! The red stain is leftover from the tragedy. The little white flap covers a red ink pad.

So what is it?

Hanko, or Inkan, are special stamps that function similarly to a signature. They are used in a variety of situations- from official business at the bank to more personalized instances like accepting mail.

As for myself, I was given a hanko to use at the bank. It is pictured on the right.

Usually, the names are written in Kanji (the fancy-looking characters of Japanese writing). However, my name is written in Katakana (the characters used for words borrowed from other languages), and it is only my given name, not my surname.

As far as I can tell, hanko and inkan can be used interchangeably, though the actual meanings of the words are different. According to my research, the hanko is the physical object while the inkan is the seal it produces.

These seals can be bought from any number of stores, and the price largely depends on how fancy you want to be. If you are buying a seal that will be used for true legally binding contracts and not just as a souvenir, you will need to register your hanko at a local government office. My stamp was provided to me by my employer (located in the City Hall), so I did not have to go through that process, though it seems to be quite simple, as some places conduct the registration with automated machines.

There are three kinds of hanko that have different uses and levels of registration:

Mitome-in: These are stamps used for more casual use, and they are usually the cheapest. They can be used for simple acknowledgements (like receiving packages) and the like, as they are unregistered.

Ginko-in: These seals are used primarily at the bank. They have their own registration through the bank, so when you need to use its services, an impression of your seal is compared to the one they have registered.

Jitsu-in: The true hanko, these require government registration, as they are used for legal matters and contracts.

Hanko and Inkan can vary in size and style. You could do a brief google search yourself, of course, but here are a few examples that I’ve found: