A Beginner's Guide to Box Inscriptions, Signatures and Seals

Japanese works are often kept in a fitted wooden box, and the writing on that box can be as interesting as the work inside. This guide explains what you are likely to see. It is an introduction for looking, not a method of authentication.

The box inscription (hakogaki 箱書)

Japanese reference works describe hakogaki as writing on the box that holds a painting, calligraphy or a craft object: usually a title or the name of the object, with a signature and a seal. It may be written by the artist, or by a pupil or someone who knew the artist's work well. There is no single fixed format. In modern examples the inside of the lid may also record how the piece came to be made or who owned it.

A typical inscription contains:

• On the top of the lid: the type or title of the object, for example a tea bowl (chawan 茶碗) or a flower vase (hanaire 花入).

• On the top or on the underside of the lid: the name of the maker, often followed by "made by" (saku 作), and a seal (in 印).

• Sometimes: a date, a poetic name, or a note about the piece.

Who wrote it

• Tomobako 共箱. The original box, inscribed by the maker of the work.

• An inscription by a successor or expert. Where the maker did not inscribe a box, a later member of the studio, a family successor or a specialist may record an attribution (kiwame 極め). The Cleveland Museum of Art, for example, holds works by the Kyoto ceramist Seifū Yohei III whose box lids were inscribed in 1919 by his son, Yohei IV, confirming his father's authorship. In the trade, such boxes are often called kiwamebako 極箱 or shikibako 識箱; these are working terms whose use varies.

• Kakitsuke 書付. An inscription by a tea master or other figure of authority, especially on tea utensils.

Signatures and seals on the work itself

• Rakkan 落款. On paintings and calligraphy, the artist's signature and seal added on completion.

• Mei 銘. On ceramics and other crafts, the maker's signature or mark. The same word can also mean a poetic name given to an object.

• Zaimei 在銘 / mumei 無銘. Signed / unsigned.

• Kiln and studio marks. Stamped, incised or painted marks on the base of ceramics may identify a kiln or a workshop rather than an individual hand.

Common words on boxes

Romaji	Kanji	Meaning
saku / zō	作 / 造	made by
ga	画	painted by
sho	書	written by
in	印	seal
kaō	花押	handwritten monogram used as a signature
utsushi	写	made after an earlier model
futa-ura	蓋裏	underside of the lid

A word of caution

A box, a signature or a seal does not by itself prove that a work is by the named artist. Japanese reference works note that old box inscriptions can themselves become objects of authentication study. Boxes can be separated from their works or made later, and signatures and seals can be copied. An attribution rests on the work itself (material, technique, style) read together with its box and history, ideally by a specialist.