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. Your name as it appears on your residence record — the full name is safest; some offices also accept the surname or given name alone — with the 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 company name.
18–24 mm · Tensho and Kaku · round + square
Configure the company set →More than a few seals? Talk to us →Two metals
Aluminium
From ¥5,000 · ships in 5 days
Lighter in the hand, and it costs less. Machined from one solid rod, anodised, finished by hand. Softer than titanium, so it marks sooner with daily use.
Choose aluminium →Titanium
From ¥9,000 · ships in 8 days
Dense and warm grey. Harder than aluminium, so the edges of the face stay crisp longer. Milled to depth, then finished by hand; it does not rust.
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 without fitting inside an 8 mm one. The bands below are the sizes each use usually takes.
Lay a ¥100 coin (22.6 mm) beside the screen to check the scale.
12 mm
13.5 mm
15 mm
18 mm
24 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 Latin letters, in capitals — never converted to katakana or kanji unless you ask. A registered seal carries your name, or part of it, as it appears on your residence record; whether your office accepts the surname alone, the given name alone or a katakana reading differs from office to office, so ask yours.
Small kana (ュ, っ)?
Carved full size, like every other character. Koin and Kaisho keep them easiest to read.