Tokugawa Shogunate Silver Seal Found in Japan

August 20, 2018

Tokyo- A silver seal used for diplomatic documents by the Tokugawa shogunate late in the Edo period (1603-1868) has been found, the Tokugawa Memorial Foundation said Monday.

The silver seal was used for the 1859 instrument of ratification of the treaty of amity and commerce between Japan and the United States.

According to the foundation, the seal was contained in a box found at a Tokugawa shogunate storehouse in 2017.

The silver seal, which is 9.2 centimeters long and wide, 7.8 centimeters high, and weighs 2.7 kilograms, was used by Tokugawa Iemochi and Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the 14th and 15th Tokugawa shoguns, respectively. Yoshinobu was the last Tokugawa shogun.

The Tokugawa shogunate ordered seal engraver Masuda Koen to make the item in 1857.

The seal is engraved with "keibun ibu," meaning an ideal statesman who is skilled in both literary and military arts.

The silver seal was used for documents to ratify treaties and credential letters, together with the shogun signature.

Masashi Iwatate, a curator of the foundation, said that as the documents stamped with the seal are mainly kept abroad, further research is now likely to take place.

The silver seal will be displayed at an exhibition to be held at the Niigata Prefectural Museum of History in the central Japan city of Nagaoka between Sept. 15 and 30. Jiji Press