King of Na gold seal

Chinese gold seal found in Japan

The King of Na gold seal is a valuable object made of gold that was found in 1784 on Shikanoshima Island in Fukuoka Prefecture, near Shikaumi Shrine in Japan. This seal is very important and has been recognized as a National Treasure of Japan..[1] It is thought that the King of Na gold seal was made in China and given to a Japanese envoy by Emperor Guangwu of Han in 57 AD. The seal bears five Chinese characters that identify it as the seal of the King of Na, a vassal state of the Han Dynasty in Japan..[2] The gold seal is now kept in the Fukuoka City Museum in Fukuoka, Japan..[3]

This picture has two images put together to show both sides of a seal.
Top view of the snake knob

References

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  1. National Treasures of Japan – Exhibition catalogue, April 10 - May 27, 1990, Tokyo National Museum (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. 1990.
  2. Miyake, Yonekichi (December 1892), "漢委奴國王印考 (A study of the seal [inscribed] to the King of the state of Na in Wa under the Han dynasty)", Shigaku zasshi, vol. 3, no. 37, pp. 874–81
  3. "Gold Seal (Kin-in)". Fukuoka City Museum. Retrieved 2011-12-24.