Monday, November 21, 2016

New Hanko Name Stamp from Japan

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Kanji drawings of my name that might
become my name stamp (hanko).
On my Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016, Part Four, post I talked about the name stamp that Tanaka-san was going to make for me.

Tanaka-san changed the first character (first square at top right) which was kami (God) to za (sitting) as in zazen for Zen meditation (which, admittedly, I don't do) in the top right of the second square.  The final actual stamp has zen as in Zen Buddhism.  He didn't ask me about using this so I have to go with what he decided as he is the artist.  I do understand how difficult and, probably impossible, it is to come up with the character for the first syllable of my name as there is no good presentation of the Ji-e (long e) sound.

I received my new hanko name stamp in the mail on Saturday.  (Amazingly, it arrived without my street address; just my name, town, state and zipcode.  My friends at the Post Office really know me and where I live!)

I was ureshii (ecstatically happy) to say the least.  It's a thing of beauty as Tanaka-san carved it out of stone (what kind?  I'll have to ask) and the stamp part is covered with a lovely fabric "box."  He also carved his signature onto the side of the stone stamp.

It's too large to fit into my Ito Bashofu hanko case, so I'm putting it into something larger.  In Japan, people carry their hanko around with them in order to sign official documents.  Since mine is just for use on my artwork, I don't need the small convenient size of a little change purse.

The white paper with the sample stamp and the Chinese characters (kanji) came on top of the stone stamp to illustrate what the stamp and signature would look like when used.

As I mentioned above, the first character is zen and the character below it is ni (meaning thoughtfulness or benevolence), the next character at the top left is fu (fabric--- oh, so me!), and the last one is a for linen.  The last two, I think, really represent me.
Note Tanaka-san's carved "initials" on the side.
Sample of my hanko stamp at top with the character (kanji)
represented in script below it.  Tanaka Kazuomi san's
hanko and signature (Kazuomi) at bottom left.

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