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Can anyone help me to translate the inscription on this seal? I think I can see 26 in there somewhere, so I think it is dated. I'm grateful for any help. Thanks

you don't see a 26, but the seal is Japanese and dated to the bingxu year (using Chinese pronunciation of the characters) of the Bunsei reign, which corresponds to 1826.

Thanks. So there was twenty six in there.

no, there is no 26 there. what is there is the reign name of a Japanese emperor and a cyclical calendar year name. it's up to you to figure out what that corresponds to in the gregorian calendar. there's nothing that says "26". the Japanese carver or owner of this seal did not write 1826 on it. he wrote such-and-such year in so-and-so's reign. it's only we westerners and more contemporary Japanese used to the gregorian calendar who call it 1826. the reign system as a calendar is still in use in Japan today, though the cyclical calendar is uncommon; I think we're currently in year 19 of the Heisei era (which started in 1989).

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