@Pylinaer, while it is impossible to tell just by looking at it whether it’s Japanese or Chinese, I did a little searching and concluded that it is a Japanese sequence of words.
The reason why it’s impossible to tell: each one of the characters depicted is being used both in Japanese as Kanji and Chinese regular language commonly.
The individual words, and @Fraggles was very close. And yeah, the way it’s written out is funny, it’s not written in complete top down order, this is the way it’s broken up (Click image to see whole breakdown):
So the word sequence is:
- 白
- 山
- 神
- 社
- 交
- 通
- 安
- 全
- 御
- 守
白山 = White Mountain
(This was a little tricky at first, because there’s a city called that in China, there is also a city called that in Japan.)
But putting those together with the next 2 words, and we get this:
白山神社 Literally meaning White Mountain Shrine.
Of course that was the biggest give away that this this is a Japanese stamp.
Next:
交通 = Traffic
安全 = Safety
御守 = Guard
This last set of 2 words was the next give away for it being Japanese than Chinese.
A little Google Translate gives a direct translation for this from Japanese:
But if you try it in Chinese, you get nothing.
Why?
Because it looks like an abbreviation of four character combination from times of imperial China, and not used currently in regular speech, but okay, but nobody uses this abbreviation even when talking about it. (At least I don’t think so.)
The full four word combination is as follows:
If you look carefully around the edges of this piece, you can see a faint seal as well:
It’s kind of squarish on the outside and circular on the inside, I don’t know in detail of what it is:
But I imagine that this is a personal identity/proof of ID for the shrine’s guard, and that the seal was probably once a red stamp that has since faded. Kind of like you have a print, and that is the official authorization seal. The series of words on there is clearly a stamp, possibly and likely a woodblock print. The seal is to make if official.
Cheers!
Doubtful it’s a proof of id for a guard. I would think more likely a tourist stamp. Either way…it’s…err…in the trash compactor.
Why would you ask about it if you were just going to throw it out?
Also, i made 비빔밥 (Korean: bibimbap):
I was curious as to what it actually said.
I’m glad you did because it let me learn something. Those read order shenanigans was something I did not even think was a possibility, also the 3 character kanji on the 7th line came as a nice surprise. Thank you, once again @YQMaoski.
@Pylinaer, it’s too bad you don’t have it any more, I was curious actually to know what was on the back of it. It is clearly a pressed woodblock print and the seal might have been interesting to see in better detail, or perhaps it was an oil-based seal with the oiliness seeping through from the back side.
But you might be right about it not being an actual proof of identity, but it’s not uncommon for people to use carved badges with official seals on them for that purpose. But the ink does look quite fresh on the thing, so I was scratching my head wondering about the age of it or how the seal looked so faint.
Okay, I am now hungry, and I just ate… 
@Fraggles, I was surprised at the way the whole thing was put together as well, not sure the reason for the tight squeeze, maybe it was just for aesthetic purposes, or perhaps to fit onto a similarly sized badge/carving that you would hang around the waist. And you are welcome.
Was blank. Was actually folded up a bit. Only other thing on it was two very faded yellow symbols.
It was still in a package thing and is at least 1.5 years old since I didn’t put it in my car.
What a beautiful view! Thanks for sharing!
woa that sky pattern looks awesome 
Happy Birthday to Sigmund Freud everyone!
I am at work now, but once I am done I am going to make myself some suspicious looking pancakes, and eat a banana for lunch! 
Oh I’ll make sure to tell my father it’s Siggy’s b-day… lmao 
You’d think your psychoanalysis teachers would be all serious, until it’s Freud’s b-day and everyone joins in on the memes.
Oof. I just moved, and am really missing my Korean neighbors (and their food). I love me some GochuJang.
dang… 
train be bragging about its new shoes
These look so impractical . My girlfriend bought Asus laptop from UK and ofc it has UK type power plug ( similar to one you are holding ) so we needed to look for an adapter and even then it keeps on falling off the el.socket because nothing fits and holds in place.
Why cant everyone agree on that this just works best?
agree, my plugs are best, everyone else should stop making silly power outlets 