I ran across a fascinating thread on Twitter today, on a Japanese—Edo period (1603–1868)—practice by which impoverished peasants who were fed up with their poor treatment would decide to revolt, and they'd "sign their list of demands with all their names in a big circle. . . . This format expressed their solidarity and commitment to each other, like an endless ring that cannot be broken." It also did not reveal to the daimyo lords just who the leaders of the revolt might be. As the Twitter thread points out, this tactic was used by Mongolian revolutionaries in 1911, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of 1648–1764, and in the "round robin" demands of 17th-century France and England. Here, for example, is a "sailors' round robin," addressed to the captain of a ship in Charles I's employ (the text is transcribed and translated in the link):
Here are a few of the images that the tweeter, Nick Kapur, shared from Japan. The writing was probably done by a scribe; the individual names tend to be accompanied by hanko (personal seals). I find them beautiful.
Finally, as one commenter pointed out, "That is why John Hancock was so remarkable and why the American Revolution so powerful. Our leaders knew exactly who would be hanged! All of them." They didn't hide in a circle. They strode right on out for all to see. Hancock's signature included a big loud "dammit!"
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