Guide · 選び方
Which seal do you need?
Four kinds of seal, two metals, one rule about size. Each answer ends where you can start.
Four kinds of seal
Everyday seal · 認印
For parcels, the office, the forms nobody registers. Any script, any size. The one most people carve first, and the one you can give.
10.5–13.5 mm · any family
Start with an everyday seal →Bank seal · 銀行印
Registered with your bank, not the ward. Usually the surname, kept apart from your registered seal so losing one does not cost you both.
12–15 mm · Tensho, Reisho, Insou
Start with a bank seal →Registered seal · 実印
The one the ward office keeps on file, for property, loans and inheritance. Full name as it appears on your residence record, rim intact.
13.5–18 mm · Insou or Tensho
Start with a registered seal →Company seals · 会社印
A round representative seal filed at the Legal Affairs Bureau, a bank seal, and a square seal for invoices. Three seals, one name, one script.
18–24 mm · Tensho · round + square
Configure the company set →More than a few seals? Talk to us →Two metals
Aluminium
From ¥5,000 · ships in 5 days
Light in the hand, anodised. Machined from one solid rod, finished by hand. Marks sooner with daily use.
Choose aluminium →Titanium
From ¥9,000 · ships in 8 days
Dense, warm-grey, for life. Milled to depth, then finished by hand. Does not corrode; the face stays identical for decades.
Choose titanium →Titanium is denser and slower to machine — that is the price difference, not a difference in how the seal reads at the ward office.
One rule about size
Bigger reads more formal.
A registered seal must fit inside a 25 mm square and outside an 8 mm one. The bands are what each office expects — pick inside the band and registration is routine.
Lay a ¥100 coin (22.6 mm) beside the screen to check the scale.
12 mm
13.5 mm
15 mm
18 mm
¥100 coin
Everyday 10.5–13.5 · Bank 12–15 · Registered 13.5–18 · Company 18–24
Names
髙 or 高?
A registered seal must match your residence record character for character. Check the record, not your memory.
A Latin name?
Latin letters are carved as katakana, never converted to kanji. Most ward offices want the name exactly as it is on your residence card.
Small kana (ュ, っ)?
Carved full size in seal script. Koin and Kaisho handle them best.