Reading a 戸籍謄本: what every line means
A 戸籍謄本 is a full copy of a family register. Where a 住民票 says where people live now, a register records events — births, marriages, transfers — and keeps them after they have happened.
That is why it reads as a history rather than a snapshot, and why names on it are sometimes ruled through. This is every field it carries.
| On the document | What it is | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 本籍 | Registered Domicile (as printed) always present | Where the family register is kept, which is frequently nowhere anybody has lived. It is not an address of residence and does not change when somebody moves. |
| 本籍（ローマ字） | Registered Domicile always present | The same domicile in Latin letters. |
| 筆頭者 | Head of Family Register (as printed) always present | The person whose name is written first on the register. It stays that name after they die and after the family changes — it is how the register is found, not a status. |
| 筆頭者（ふりがな） | Head of Family Register (reading) | The reading of that name in kana. |
| 筆頭者（ローマ字） | Head of Family Register always present | Self-explanatory once located. |
| 戸籍事項 | Register Event | What happened and was recorded — a birth, a marriage, a transfer between registers. A family register records changes, not only the present state. |
| 戸籍事項の年月日 | Date of Register Event | The date of that event, as recorded, usually in an era year. |
| 戸籍に記載されている者 | Person Recorded | Each person recorded on the register, with their own dates and relationship lines. A name ruled through means that person is now on a different register, not that anything is wrong. |
| 発行年月日 | Date of Issue always present | The date this copy was issued, usually in an era year. It is the age of the copy, not of anything recorded on it. |
| 発行者（市区町村） | Issuing Authority (as printed) always present | The municipality that holds the register and issued the copy. |
| 発行者（ローマ字） | Issuing Authority always present | Self-explanatory once located. |
| 職名 | Title of Issuing Official always present | The title of the official the certificate is issued under — 区長 for a ward, 市長 for a city. The title is translated; it is part of what makes the sheet a certificate. |
| 証明書番号 | Certificate Number | The office's own reference for this copy. |
A 抄本 is the same document as a 謄本 with fewer people on it: an extract, usually one person, from the same register and with the same certifying block at the foot.