NEW FASCINATION – STAMPS

In my recent trips to Japan, I have been trying to soak in more of the sub cultures and hobbies. One thing I didn’t realize was ink stamps. I’ve seen a few at the Castles I have gone and even when I took the subway systems… but I NEVER gave it a thought besides that. 

It was the same thing with Temples and Shrines. I’ve seen stamps and even the souvenirs, but I never put forth into understanding the Red seal stamps with calligraphy. Even more so that they costed money. 

I’ve been to many places in Japan and I’ve always tried to take pictures to capture the experience and to keep some kind of token for memories, whether that be a ticket or buying a souvenir. 

Recently, I stumbled up all the stamping and when I started to see how well the designs were, I felt I needed to do this on my next trip. Did I mention I’m an extremist at times? Like I will go all out. This has made my next trip very exciting!!!

Japan is also extreme in some extention as well. They celebrate and appreciate everything. 

EKI STAMPS

I started watching some content based on Japan and I saw that people were going to train stations getting stamps or “Eki stampu”. Jacob and I have done this with the Tokyo Metro line in 2017 (which I hear they are now digital!!! WTF!!!)

After going into an Eki stamp deep dive, I have been hooked.  So I bought an Eki stamp book. I started to map out some stations, then started to stumble upon a bit more. 

Location Stamps : Attractions, museums, airports…etc

It seems like most of the places in Japan might have a stamp. Some restaraunts, shops, malls… it’s simply amazing. So I decided to get a separate stamp book for those.  

Here is one of the coolest shops in Japan, Rainbowholic and their own stamp.

Stamp rallies

Just seeing how often these are talked about. Various stamp rallies can be held with vairous topics (anime, festival…etc) where you go to different locations to get a stamp. Usually you can get flyer or brochure to stamp on. Once you complete the stamp rally, you can turn it in for a prize. 

Here is an example I found on ebay: Girls Und Panzer anime stamp rally.

Goshuin and Goshuincho

This gets pretty deep and as mentioned, I didn’t understand the purpose of Goshuin at the time I went to Kyoto. I found out that these Goshuin is a validation of you being at the Temple (Buddhism) and Shrine (Shintoism). Besides the cool calligraphy and seal of the location… there could be special stamps for seasons, special occasions and many other reasons. At times, these are limited time and amount. 

While you can get a Goshuin on paper that the Temple or Shrine provides (don’t use scrap paper), it is best to get a Goshuincho. These are books that they can directly write in or you can paste the Goshuin onto the page. Goshuin and Goshuincho are religious, so there are some rules to having them such as not giving them away or writing in the book. 

I’ve also been reading a bit about the different temples and shrines and it appears sometimes a Buddhist temple might not sign a Goshiuncho if there are Shinto shrine goshuins. 

It makes sense to me and I feel that is proper to have one for shrines and one for temples. There are also 2 page goshuins and spread goshuincho. So that is something I will get as well. 

There are quite a few blogs that really interest me. Travelling with Teabags is a great one!!

Castle Stamps, Gojoin and Gojoincho

While marking out the castles to visit and get a ink stamp, there is somewhat of a “rally” to collect the ink stamps of “100 of the best Castles”. 

I’ve only gotten Himeji Castle’s ink stamp on a provided piece of paper. 

While I do want to buy this, I want to have something smaller, like the Eki stamp book. I’ve been trying to get something that has a cover of a castle on it, but nothing. But I got to admit, this looks legit!!! I don’t know if I will get 100 castles as I don’t live in Japan, but I would try to get some of the ones I do have access to.  

https://jref.com/articles/the-100-finest-castles-of-japan.267/

This leads into Gojoin and Gojoincho (book). I didn’t see this until recently, but you can get Castle Seals!!! It was mentioned that it is a play off the Goshuin, but the focus on castles. I absolutely loved this!!!

https://www.fun-japan.jp/en/articles/13158

Here are limited Castle seals for Himeji Castle.

In the Matcha article, it is mentioned that over 500 Castles are participating. Last year (2023) I accidently went to more castles than I expected. Kokura and Kanazawa were those. I didn’t get any seal or stamps while there (I’m such an idiot). 

Now that is a mission next time I go to Japan. But to follow suit with the Goshuincho, I had to ask my friend about getting Gojoincho off Amazon Japan (as I couldn’t get it here in the US)

I just found this website and I am simply blown away!!!

https://collection.kojodan.jp/gojyoin/list/

Tetsuin and Tetsuincho

I discovered this when reading the article The World of Tetsuin: Collecting stamps while Exploring Local Railways.

While the bigger companies and government run railways get a lot of attention, what the author explained was that this was a way for 3rd party railways (smaller lines) that are usually in rural areas and don’t get heavy traffic. As a mild train otaku, this was interesting in the ways of riding railway company and getting a cool souvenir. Obvioulsy the Tetsuin (Iron Seal) and the Tetsuincho are playing off the Goshuin. It is super cool as you have to buy the book at certain small stations and you get a Tetsuin at a certain station. 

Some of these are hard to get as they are really rural and are not frequent. 

A day trip through Nagoya collecting stamps and Goshuin subsequently got me to one of the 40 participating railways, Aichi Loop Line. So I’m kind of excited to get this book and add as many as I can get on future travels. 

Just like Goshuin, you have to present the Tetsuincho in order to get the Iron Seal. 

Tower Stamps

Naturally, I started to look into where stamps would be. I then came across ANOTHER stamp collecting (in Japan, they have stamp rallies) idea, but this was for Towers. WTF!

I was looking at stamps and if a couple of towers that I want to visit would have a stamp as I’ve seen nothing on official websites. Of course, this lead to this link:

https://www.japantowers.jp/en/stamprally/

Again, I clicked and went into the deals of collecting tower stamps!!! Here are the towers:

I am going to see a few of these and I just thought that it’s cool they have a book to stamp these. Just like all stamp rallies, once you collect them all, you can get a prize. I personally don’t think I’ll get the prize, but just to know I have a book with these stamps is amazing to me. There is very limited info on this and I was looking for the Stamp book (300 yen) to see if I can buy it before I got Sapporo. I found the picture on https://straightpress.jp/20230424/882838

What I have on my current list this trip is:

• Sapporo TV Tower
• Tokyo Tower
• Tsutenkaku Tower
• Kyoto Tower
• Kobe Port Tower
• Kuchu Teien Observatory
• Fukuoka Tower

I might pick up another Tower book just to keep all my other tower stamps I have planned for this trip.

• Harukas 300
• Takamatsu Symbol Tower
• Tokyo Skytree
• Tokyo Metropolis Tower
• Fuji TV 

Randen book

As I was planning for Kyoto’s stamp rally, I wanted to get stamps from not just JR stations, but any other transportation system. I looked into Randen’s 1 day pass and found out they also have a stamp book!

https://experiences.travel.rakuten.com/experiences/25629

https://experiences.travel.rakuten.com/experiences/25629

Conclusion for now

As I am planning a massive collection. I want to go over what I have planned quickly.

• Eki stamp book – dedicated for train stations
• Eki stamp book – dedicated for locations/misc stamps/Fuukei-in
• Goshuincho for Temples
• Goshuincho for Shrines 
• 2 Spread Goshuincho
• Gojoincho
• Castle stamp book
• Tetsuincho (for the 3rd party railways)
• All Japan Tower stamp book – dedicated for the 19 designated towers
• All Japan Tower stamp book – dedicated to other towers
• Randen red seal book

A quick note. I am planning on visit quite a few Shrines and Temples, so I might end up buying a few Goshuincho

UPDATE: Another layer of Stamps I havent’ considered, but think is really cool. Mifune stamps for boats.

https://gosen-in.jp/

There are offiicial seal books, but wow… another level!!