Traditional craft
Tokyo Tebori Insho
東京手彫り印章
Hanko name seals in boxwood or buffalo horn, designed and carved by hand in Tokyo with a precision no machine can copy.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 27 October 2025
- Type
- Other crafts
- Region
- Kanto
- Official name in Japanese
- 東京手彫り印章
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 東京都 千代田区、中央区、港区、新宿区、文京区、台東区、墨田区、江東区、品川区、目黒区、大田区、世田谷区、中野区、杉並区、豊島区、荒川区、足立区、葛飾区、江戸川区、八王子市、立川市、武蔵野市、三鷹市、青梅市、小金井市、東村山市、国立市、西東京市神奈川県 川崎市
Every line by hand
Tokyo tebori insho are hanko, personal name seals, made entirely by hand, from designing the characters to carving them. The craftsman cuts lines with a precision machines cannot reproduce, paying close attention to the thickness of each line and the start and finish of every stroke. Seals are carved in boxwood or water buffalo horn. It is made across Tokyo, and in Kawasaki in Kanagawa.
Draft, reverse, carve
- Inko: the characters are drafted on paper, imagining the finished impression.
- Ji-ire: they are written in reverse onto the seal stock with a brush.
- Ara-bori: holding the stock in a carving stand, the craftsman cuts away everything but the characters to an even depth.
- Finishing: a finishing knife refines the border and the edges of each character so the lines are delicate.
Seal makers move east
In February 1624, seal makers moved from Kyoto to Edo, and a seal-making trade took root in the new capital. The hand skills have carried on since the Edo period, and the craft was designated in 2025.
Good to know
- Order a seal early in your trip so it is ready before you fly home.
- Compare it with Koshu hand-carved seals from Yamanashi, which also use crystal.
Questions travellers ask
What materials are Tokyo seals carved in?
Boxwood and water buffalo horn.
Why are the characters written in reverse?
So that the stamped impression reads the right way round.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Hakone Hachiri: walking the Edo stone road over Hakone
- Kamakura: the samurai capital as a mosaic of history
- Mount Takao and Hachioji, the city of silk
- Oyama Mairi: the Edo people's pilgrimage and day out
- The stone islands of the Seto Inland Sea
- Yatsushiro's stonemasons: the bridge builders of Japan
- Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo and Maizuru: Japan's naval port cities
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.