Daijokancho (太政官牒)

Daijokancho are official documents sent from Daijokan to organizations not under its direct control such as sogo and Buddhist temples. It is also called simply "kancho." Daijokancho were actively used during the Heian period.

Cho was at first a kind of document used in kushikiryo (according to he Ritsuryo system) when a low- or medium-ranked government official higher than sakan submitted a petition to a higher government official, it was later used as texts exchanged between the office of Monastic affairs or Buddhist temples and a government official. While daijokanpu was normally used to send a daijokan's order, daijokancho, a less imperative document, was used to send it to Buddhist temples because daijokan did not have a direct vassal relationship with Buddhist temples.

A letter 'cho' was placed under a sender and at the beginning of a text, the text was closed by letters 'kocho' and the date was followed by the signatures of the benkan and recorder (ritsuryo system) who made the dajokancho.

[Original Japanese]