Chinese or Japanese Wooden Stamp?

[JonG]

Picked this up over the weekend, and have no idea what it is. It seems to be an old piece, with a nice smooth worn feel and patina from use. Made of wood, maybe burl. Approximately 3 inches wide and 1.5 inches thick. The same characters are on both sides. It may be turned sideways, upside down or backwards if it is a stamp.

Anyone have an idea, or read Chinese / Japanese?
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[DCMatt]

I showed this to my boss who is a Chinese person. She said it looks familiar but is not a word she recognizes. It may be a person's name character.

DCMatt

 

[Yang Hao]

It's Chinese but it's not a wooden stamp or else the character would be in reverse. the character on the front is the traditional chinese character han 漢 (I just typed the character but you might not be able to see it) which has many meanings like han dynasty。 I believe it is a piece from a chinese chess type game. like elephant chess but I have never seen a piece with han on it.

 

[huntsman53]

It's Chinese but it's not a wooden stamp or else the character would be in reverse. the character on the front is the traditional chinese character han 漢 (I just typed the character but you might not be able to see it) which has many meanings like han dynasty。 I believe it is a piece from a chinese chess type game. like elephant chess but I have never seen a piece with han on it.

I agree that it is a Chinese game piece, probably Xiangqi (Chinese Chess game)!


Frank

 

[Yang Hao]

Chinese chess is a fun game. last year in Beijing I saw some people playing it on top of a tree stump that had the board carved into the stump. I've also seen people play it on a flat stone with the board painted on it.