The Imperial Seal (English: Chuán guó xǐ)

Japanese: 伝国璽 - でんこくじ（英語表記）Chuán guó xǐ

This seal is said to have been passed down from one Chinese dynasty to the next as proof of the legitimacy of the dynasty since the First Emperor of Qin. It is made of jade with a dragon handle, is 4 inches (about 9 cm) square, and has characters in seal script. It is said to have been passed down from the Former Han to the Later Han after the fall of the Qin dynasty. However, there are two theories about the characters, either "Receive the command from Heaven, long life and prosperity" or "Receive the command from Heaven, long life and prosperity," and it is generally believed that it was actually made in the early Later Han. It is said to have been lost at the end of the Later Han, and then discovered by chance several times, but the characters always read "Receive the command from Heaven, long life and prosperity of the Emperor."

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

秦の始皇帝以来中国の諸王朝が正統王朝の証拠として，歴代受け伝えたといわれる印章。玉製で竜のつまみがあり，4寸(約9cm)四方，文字は篆書（てんしよ）で，秦の滅亡後，前漢から後漢へ伝わったという。しかし，その文字は〈受命于天　既寿且康〉と〈受命于天　既寿永昌〉の2説があり，実は後漢初めの製作とする考えが強い。後漢末にいったん失われ，その後，偶然の機会に何度か発見されたといわれるが，文字はすべて〈受天之命　皇帝寿昌〉となっている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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