Photo/Illutration The King of Na gold seal designated as a national treasure (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The King of Na gold seal, a national treasure Japanese schoolchildren learn about from history textbooks, dates to the first century.

Hearing of a successful attempt to reproduce this seal with techniques employed back then, I went to see the result at Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka High School.

It was tiny but surprisingly heavy, and its handle felt unexpectedly soft to my fingertips.

The original seal is believed to have been bestowed by Emperor Guangwu of the Later Han dynasty upon a diplomatic envoy sent from the Na state of Wa (Japan).

The artifact was discovered in the late Edo Period (1603-1867) on Shikanoshima island in Fukuoka Prefecture. Due to the dubious circumstances under which it was found, its authenticity is being challenged by some experts.

The reproduction was made by Kyushu Chukin Kenkyukai (Kyushu metal casting research group), which is made up of archaeologists and engineers and led by Yohei Miyata, 62, a professor of technical art at the University of Teacher Education Fukuoka.

Starting four years ago, the team kept experimenting with ancient techniques, including a lost wax process. With each failed attempt, they remelted the bullion to raise the precision.

“I was surprised by how much the level of perfection differed between the seal’s handle and face,” noted Kiyoshi Endo, 72, a metal casting artist.

The face was engraved with great precision with five Chinese characters that imply the seal was given by the Han dynasty to the King of Na state of Wa.

But the handle, which is in the shape of a coiled serpent, is hardly refined.

Endo understood why when he heard the theory that the seal maker, having mistakenly thought that Japan lay north of China, first used the design of a camel, and then refashioned it into a serpent after he learned Japan lay south of China.

As I scrutinized the stout serpent on the handle, it began to make perfect sense when I reminded myself that the creature was initially meant to be camel. The serpent’s scales looked as if they were carved in great haste.

I could almost imagine hearing the seal maker cursing himself, “Darn. Japan isn’t a northern country.”

For the superpower of 2,000 years ago, this may have been just a harmless little diplomatic blunder. And as for the Japanese envoy who journeyed all the way to the capital city of Luoyang, I am sure he could never have imagined that the golden seal presented by the emperor was the result of a rush job.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 30

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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