Historical Record Research

This is our unique database for ancestor research, which provides over 100,000 names, occupations (positions), and annual incomes. The core of the database is information on warriors of the Sengoku period (1467-1568) and the Edo period (1603-1867), including the shogunate and first editions. Possession of this database is one of Kaju’s strengths and is the basis for our ability to conduct research that other companies cannot.

The old land registry is a real estate register created in the Meiji era. Even if the family registers of your ancestors reveal their family domicile, they do not reveal their property status. We will investigate the old land registry to find out if the land was owned, how large it was, and what the real estate value of the land was.

There are many facilities located in Tokyo, such as the National Diet Library, the National Archives of Japan, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Archives, where you can view and copy documents that will help you in your search for your ancestors. When descriptions and documents related to your ancestors are found at these facilities, you can learn more than your family register about your ancestors’ names, occupations, places of residence, income, living conditions, and more.

We collect information by phone or letter, and if the family temple is known, we ask the head priest to provide the information in the family history book. If the family temple is unknown, we will contact temples in the vicinity of the family domicile and ask if your ancestors are listed in the family history books. The temple’s past ledgers contain the secular name (full name), the Buddhist name, date of death, and relationship to the deceased, and may also contain the family’s house name, occupation, and place of residence. If you are able to obtain information from an Edo period passbook, you will be able to find out the names of your ancestors prior to the family register.

There are more than 95 public archives located throughout Japan. The archives store a large amount of official documents created after the Meiji period (1868-1912), as well as old documents and maps from the Edo period that were handed down to local government offices and old families. Some of these documents contain the names, addresses, occupations, family names (samurai, etc.), and land ownership of residents. On the other hand, since copying is prohibited, visitors must visit the archives and take photographs with a camera or other equipment. In addition, since many of the old official documents are written in cursive script, skills in deciphering old documents are also required.

Local Journals are prefectural or municipal histories of the land where your ancestors lived. They are indispensable for ancestor research because they may mention the families of medieval castle lords and residents, and they may carry the names of residents from the early modern period onward. Since it is not uncommon for some local histories to exceed 100 volumes in a whole series or 1,000 pages in a single volume, expertise and skill are required to conduct the research efficiently.

From the phone book, we can read the distribution of surnames in places where the deceased lived. Depending on how many people have a certain surname in a given land, we can infer the period when that surname was settled in that place. Since the Edo period (1603-1867), farmers were prohibited from selling and moving their land, which means that most Japanese people’s homes remained unchanged until 1871 on the same land where they lived in the early Edo period. Since there is a general tendency for the families of commoners to be more numerous and the families of samurai to be less numerous, the distribution of surnames can be useful in guessing the occupation of your ancestors.

Newspapers began to be published in Japan during the Meiji period (1868-1912), and in many cases, the names of ancestors can be found in old newspaper articles. Major national newspapers (Asahi, Mainichi, Yomiuri) offer online newspaper search services, but since they are not available on the Internet, it is most practical to use search services available at large libraries. The National Diet Library (Tokyo Main Library), for example, provides access to information on each newspaper.

We examines the Japanese military record from around 1931 to the end of the war in 1945. The number of military personnel who went to war during this period exceeded 7 million, and their military history certificates provide detailed information on their units, ranks, and battles in which they participated. For those who were killed in action, it also includes the place of death and the cause of death. Military history certificates are documents that use old military jargon and require specialized knowledge to understand their contents.

Information provided by distant relatives can be very important because it allows us to research oral histories and private documents that do not appear in family registers or public documents. If you discover the main family of a major origin, they may have a family tree with generations of ancestors on it, or they may have a death register with the names, Buddhist post-names, and dates of death of their ancestors from the early Edo period.