Hello, my grandpa cleaned out his parent's house in Hawaii after they passed away. He found many, o

LegacyUser

Hello,
my grandpa cleaned out his parent's house in Hawaii after they passed away. He found many, of what I believe to be, the Koseki for our ancestors. I think I will need to get a translator for them. However, I have recently learned that these koseki

only go as far back as 1847. If I want to find these other records that are earlier than 1847, how would I do so?

 

Martinus Wolf

Actually the koseki system was implemented in 1872 - some of the older people listed on the koseki documents can have birth years back as far as 1800-1810. I do some koseki translation - you could send me some scans if you are looking for a quick assessment. Also, I am teaching Japanese family history classes on Zoom - next class is scheduled for August 23rd. 100 person class with about 70 spots already filled. Expand this post to see the link.

 

Martinus (Marty) E. Wolf

Sacramento, California

Japan Kobe Mission (July 1988 - August 1990)

marty_wolf@stanfordalumni.org

 

Here's the link:

 

Hi there, 

 

You are invited to a Zoom meeting. 

When: Aug 23, 2020 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) 

 

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMuf-mvpjktG9LbZeorlHqvlnzm8kjU8xHa 

 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

LegacyUser

Awesome, I would love to join your class! Thank you for the quick reply. I have been also been studying japanese in preperation for a study abroad in Japan next year. What would you recommend for me to do if I wanted to search for more records? Also, would it be worthwhile to study Kanji knowing that the kanji on these records are somewhat archaic?

Thank you.

Martinus Wolf

You may be able to find more records based on the koseki that you have - particularly female lines. You could also reach out to people with the same last name that live in the same area as the honsekichi on the koseki. Regarding kanji study, in general, the kanji on the koseki are not exactly archaic. Some of them are unsimplified forms and some of the cursive can get tricky to read. Send me an email and we can talk some more.

 

Martinus Wolf

Please email me a valid email address - both your Outlook and Gmail addresses are bouncing back. Send to marty_wolf@stanfordalumni.org.