An original Meiji-period Japanese civil court judgment, dated 12 July 1881 (Meiji 14) and bearing the name and official marking of the Osaka Court / 大阪裁判所.

The document is headed 裁判言渡書, meaning a written pronouncement or court judgment, and carries the red case number 第八百七拾六号 — No. 876. The dispute concerns 家督相続 (katoku sōzoku), the succession to a family household or headship under the pre-Civil-Code Japanese family system. Pasted markdown

The handwritten reasoning discusses matters including adoption, household affiliation, family registration, marriage arrangements and entitlement to continue or succeed to a household. It is therefore an interesting surviving document relating not only to legal history but also to Meiji-period family and social history. Pasted markdown

The document is written vertically in black ink on Japanese paper with pre-printed blue decorative legal borders, red numbering and several official red seals or stamps. The ornamented border and chrysanthemum-like side motifs are decorative features of the stationery and are not presented as evidence of Imperial provenance. Pasted markdown

Approximate size is 28–29 cm high × 20–21 cm wide per sheet.

A strong piece of 19th-century Japanese documentary material with a clearly identifiable date, court, case number and legal subject.

The document will be carefully protected with rigid archival-style support and moisture protection and dispatched from Japan by tracked Japan Post EMS.