Making a Mark

In Korea it’s called a dojang, in Japan a hanko and in China a yìnjiàn - among aliases. They are the inked hand stamps (chops) used for millennia to sign the name of the bearer when required. In the West they are spotted most often as the red markings along the edge of East Asian printed art. Once used in place of signatures, they are today sometimes required in addition to the hand written version on important documents. Their use and history is complex but the items, themselves, are becoming endangered as electronic signatures supplant inked paper for official record keeping. They are beautiful, though. I got mine in 2016 for ₩15,000 ($14.00) from a street vendor outside of the Bamboo Forest in Damyang, South Korea. Yes, they have become tourist souvenirs, and perhaps that will be their ultimate niche. I watched mine being fabricated from an exotic hardwood by a modern artisan and his computer controlled engraver. This runs afoul of the traditional methods for handcrafting a personal dojang/hanko/yìnjiàn from jade or other high quality material which can also make these items precious and pricey. That doesn’t bother me. I like mine just the same. It is a component of the Workshop logo and I put the chop to every piece of furniture that is made there. I am told it spells “Mark Goulet” but since I cannot read Hangul it could say anything, and in that sense it serves as an abstract personal logo - no different than the “X” used by many illiterates of the past, or the illegible signatures used by many of us literates, today. It’s only function is to represent the bearer and to make a Mark.

My personal logo dojang under construction on the streets of Damyang, South Korea