Inkan or Hanko
The inkan, or “Hanko” is basically a small 4” long, cylindrical wooden stamp that is just under the diameter of a dime. It is rounded at end and the other end is flat and all or one part of your name is hand carved there in the wood. Kamata-san asked me how I would like my Hanko to look, for example, did I want only my first name, my last name, both first and last. I chose just “Kenny” since this is the more official part of our names in the US, and since getting both my first and last name on my Hanko would cost considerably more money. As it was, each Hanko costs around $50 and Kamata-san got me two, so they weren’t cheap! But he said it was good to have a back up in case I lost one, but while I was here I should try to use only one Hanko the whole time. The Hankos each have a cool little velvet case- one of mine is green, one is blue. I stashed my blue Hanko at home in a safe place, and I keep my green one in my backpack at all times to use whenever needed. The story with these Hanko’s is that they simply act as your signature. And it took me a second to realize why you should only use one: simple forgery purposes- these Hankos are hand carved and each is unique, just like our signatures are, so by using just the one, I’m ensured that my stamp came from my Hanko. It’s really an incredibly cool system and I wish we’d get something like it in the states. I wonder why such a system isn’t more common, really! I’m fascinated by Hankos. I ask to see the Hanko of others and I’m always check out the cool cases that the Japanese have for theirs. If you have a really long name then your Hanko is more of an oval shape. A standard part of each Hanko case is a small stamp pad that has the official red ink needed to stamp your Hanko on any important document. Way cool.