�@The inscription consists of five Chinese characters ���ϓz����. How one pronounces and interprets these changes the significance of the seal.
At the time of the discovery, Kamei Nammei read �ϓz as 'Yamato' and thought the seal had been given to the ruler of that time. The professors at the Provincial School said �ϓz was the old name for Japan and thought the inscription meant 'the seal of the ruler of the nation of Japan.'
�@Many scholars thereafter read �ϓz as 'Ito' and felt that the seal was given to ' the ruler of the nation of Ito' mentioned in the chapter on Wajin. Then Dr. Miyake Yonekichi read the inscription as "Kann no Wa no Kokuou" and his view is now the accepted theory. He reasoned that �� is a simplified form of �` which is the ancient name of Japan, and that �z is the old name for the Fukuoka region. The present interpretation of the inscription is 'The Ruler of the Fukuoka Region of Japan a Subject State of the Nation of Kann."