How To Read A Japanese Property Registration Record

A full record (全部事項証明書, "certificate of all registered matters") has three sections, always in the same order.

表題部 — the property description

The heading section describes the physical property. For land: the location (所在), the lot number (地番 — not the postal address), the land category (地目, e.g. 宅地 residential, 山林 forest, 田 paddy), and the registered area (地積) in square meters. For buildings: the building number (家屋番号), type (種類, e.g. 居宅 residence), structure (構造, e.g. 木造 wooden), and floor area (床面積) per floor.

One thing that surprises first-time readers: land and buildings are separate real estate in Japan, each with its own record. A house purchase involves at least two records.

権利部（甲区） — ownership

Section 甲区 lists every ownership event in chronological order: the first registration (所有権保存), then each transfer (所有権移転) with its date, cause — 売買 sale, 相続 inheritance, 贈与 gift — and the owner's name and address. Co-ownership shows each owner's share (持分), written like 2分の1 (one half).

For a solely owned property, the current owner is the owner in the last entry that has not been struck out. Co-owned properties take one more step: a share transfer (持分移転) replaces only the share it names, so you must reconcile every non-underlined entry — earlier co-owners who kept their shares are still current owners even though later entries do not mention them. Address-change notes (登記名義人表示変更) appear here too — they update the owner's address, not the ownership itself.

権利部（乙区） — rights other than ownership

Section 乙区 records everything registered against the property besides ownership: mortgages (抵当権), revolving mortgages (根抵当権, common for business borrowing), surface rights (地上権), easements (地役権), and — the entries you should never ignore — seizures (差押) and provisional registrations (仮登記). A mortgage entry shows the secured amount (債権額) or credit limit (極度額), the interest rate, the debtor, and the lender.

If the record has no 乙区 section at all, no mortgages or other non-ownership rights are registered — usually the sign of a "clean" record. One caveat before relying on that: restrictions on the ownership itself, such as a seizure (差押) of the owner's title or a provisional registration (仮登記) of an ownership transfer, are recorded in 甲区, not 乙区 — so read both rights sections before calling a record clean.

Reading a record efficiently is a fixed sequence. Here is the order professionals use.

1. Confirm you have the right property. Check the 表題部 lot number (地番) or building number (家屋番号) against the parcel you are researching — lot numbers differ from postal addresses, so look up the correct 地番 first if you have not.

2. Find the current owner in 甲区. Start from the last entry that is not underlined and read the owner's name, address, and the cause of acquisition — then, if the property has ever been co-owned, reconcile the shares (持分) across all surviving entries, since a share transfer replaces only the share it names and earlier co-owners may still hold theirs. A recent 売買 (sale) tells a different story than a decades-old 相続 (inheritance) — the latter often means heirs who may be motivated sellers, or an address that is long out of date.

3. Check both rights sections for active entries. In 乙区, ignore anything underlined (see the next step) and list what remains: an active 抵当権 means the seller must discharge the loan at closing. Then re-scan 甲区 for non-underlined 差押, 仮差押, or 仮登記 entries — restrictions on the ownership itself are recorded there, not in 乙区. Any of these means the property is entangled and you should involve a professional before going further.

4. Treat underlines as "cancelled." Throughout the record, an underline (下線) means the entry has been struck — a discharged mortgage, a superseded address, an old land category. The footer of every record states this rule (下線のあるものは抹消事項であることを示す). Misreading a discharged mortgage as active is the most common beginner error — and so is the reverse.

5. Read the notes and the joint collateral list. The 共同担保目録 at the end lists other properties pledged under the same mortgage — useful for understanding how leveraged the owner is. Dates in the record use Japanese era years: 昭和 (Showa, +1925), 平成 (Heisei, +1988), 令和 (Reiwa, +2018), so 令和7年 is 2025.

A few entries deserve extra caution whenever they appear without an underline:

• 差押 (seizure) / 仮差押 (provisional seizure) — a creditor or tax authority is enforcing against the property. Transactions are possible but belong in professional hands.
• 仮登記 (provisional registration) — someone has reserved a future claim, such as an option to purchase. It ranks ahead of later registrations, so it can defeat your purchase if perfected.
• 買戻特約 (repurchase right) — the previous seller retained a right to buy the property back.
• 根抵当権 (revolving mortgage) — secures ongoing borrowing up to a credit limit; the actual debt can be anything up to that limit, so the printed 極度額 is a ceiling, not a balance.

None of these makes a property untouchable — but each one changes the questions you should ask, and all of them are exactly the kind of detail that is easy to miss in an unfamiliar language. When you order records through us, the digitized view flags these entries automatically and shows every mortgage as active or discharged — and a judicial scrivener (司法書士) should confirm the final state before money moves.

FAQ

What is the difference between 全部事項 and 所有者事項? 全部事項 (all registered matters) is the full record with all three sections. 所有者事項 (owner listing) shows only the current owner's name and address — cheaper and faster to scan, but it says nothing about mortgages or other rights.

How do I know if a mortgage is still active? An underlined mortgage entry — or one followed by a 抹消 (cancellation) entry — has been discharged. A mortgage entry with no underline and no cancellation is active. See our dedicated guide on checking whether a property has a mortgage.

Who can obtain a property registration record? Anyone. Japan's property registry is public — you do not need the owner's permission, and the owner is not notified. You need the lot number (地番) or building number (家屋番号), not the postal address.

Is an English translation of the touki legally valid? No translation replaces the Japanese original — the registry record is authoritative. Translations, including our digitized view, are reading aids for research and due diligence.

How current is the record I receive? A record reflects the registry at the moment it is issued. Registrations filed after that date will not appear, so order a fresh record close to any decision point.

Related guides:

• What is touki (登記) in Japan?
• How to check property ownership in Japan
• How to check if a Japanese property has a mortgage
• How to find a lot number (地番) in Japan
• How to get touki online in Japan