印鑑証明書

The certificate confirming that the seal impressed on the registration paperwork is the one its owner has registered, issued by the municipality for an individual or by the registrar for a company[1]. It is the seller's side of a transfer that supplies one: attached to the application where the owner files it themselves[1], and to the 委任状 where the sale runs through an agent[1]. A buyer taking ownership does not provide one, and several other classes of applicant and document are excused as well, a notarially authenticated document among them[2]. Where one is required it has to have been created within the previous three months[1], so a certificate outside that window is not usable. The same three-month limit applies to the certificate attached to a power of attorney[1], which is why an unusually fresh set of certificates on a sale nobody was expecting is worth a question.