---
title: 10 sen stamp for the 2600th year of the imperial era, inscribed 八紘一宇 (Hakkō ichiu) (1940)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kigen-2600-hakko-ichiu-10-sen-stamp-1940/
description: A red Japanese 10 sen stamp for the 2600th year of the imperial era. The imperial chrysanthemum crest sits at top centre, five fish swim above a jar on a…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![10 sen stamp for the 2600th year of the imperial era, inscribed 八紘一宇 (Hakkō ichiu) (1940)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kigen-2600-hakko-ichiu-10-sen-stamp-1940.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kigen-2600-hakko-ichiu-10-sen-stamp-1940.jpg)

# 10 sen stamp for the 2600th year of the imperial era, inscribed 八紘一宇 (Hakkō ichiu) (1940)

A red Japanese 10 sen stamp for the 2600th year of the imperial era. The imperial chrysanthemum crest sits at top centre, five fish swim above a jar on a wave pattern, and the slogan 八紘一宇 (hakkō ichiu) runs down the right-hand panel. The tags rest on the crest and founding-myth imagery placed beside the slogan (transfer) and on the slogan itself, a virtue phrase that names no testable aim (glittering generalities).

- **Date:** 1940
- **Period:** [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwii)
- **Made by:** Imperial Japanese Ministry of Communications (逓信省), postal authority of the Empire of Japan
- **Region:** [East Asia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=east-asia)
- **Country:** [Empire of Japan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=empire-of-japan)
- **Medium:** [Stamp](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=stamp)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Showa Japan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=showa-japan)
- **Leader:** [Mitsumasa Yonai](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=mitsumasa-yonai)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Commemorate](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=commemorate)
- **Themes:** [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism), [Religion](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=religion)
- **Event:** [Kigen 2600 Celebrations](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=kigen-2600-celebrations)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (scan of the stamp, own stamp collection of the uploader)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2600th_year_of_Japanese_Imperial_Calendar_stamp_of_10sen.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (Commons: PD-Japan-organization + PD-1996; 1940 stamp of a Japanese government body) Japan Post (Imperial Ministry of Communications), 2600th year of the Japanese Imperial Calendar 10 sen stamp, 1940, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

## Text on the object

Original (Japanese) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
大日本帝國郵便
八紘一宇
紀元二千六百年記念
10
拾錢
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Great Japan Imperial Postage
Hakkō ichiu (roughly: the eight directions under one roof)
Commemoration of the 2600th year of the imperial era
10
Ten sen
```

Read from the 307 by 367 pixel scan. The top inscription runs right to left across the chrysanthemum crest (大日本 to the right of it, 帝國郵便 to the left); the slogan and the commemoration text run top to bottom in the side panels. The translation is machine-made and not checked by a fluent reader of Japanese.

[← 秘密戰ヲ防ゲ (Guard Against Secret Warfare), Japanese home-front counterintelligence poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japan-counterintelligence-poster-1940/) [På post för Sverige (On Post for Sweden): preparedness postcard with hymn stanza →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pa-post-for-sverige-postcard-1940/)

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- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (Kingdom of England · 1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
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