Official letter - official letter (English spelling)

Japanese: 公牘 - こうとく（英語表記）gōng dú

In China, this is an old name for official documents of government offices. It is also called komon. The preserved documents are called touan. When sending documents between government offices or officials, the type and format of the document to be used was determined by the content and the hierarchical relationship between the government offices and positions. There were various types depending on the era, such as Ling, Pi, and Zha for downward documents, Cheng and Shen for upward documents, and Zhong for parallel documents, and the formats and terminology also showed unique developments. The Yuan Dynasty law book Yuan Dianzhang was also made up of official documents, and the imperial court documents (Han Pi Yushi), which were correspondence between the Qing emperor and bureaucrats, and the documents of government offices in the Ming and Qing dynasties have been attracting attention in recent years as historical materials that convey the actual state of administration.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

中国，官庁の公文書の古称。また公文ともいう。その保存文書を檔案（とうあん）という。官庁や役人間の文書送達には，その内容や官庁･職階の上下関係によって用うべき文書の種類と形式が定められていた。下行文書の令･批･札，上行文書の呈･申，平行文書の咨など，時代により各種あり，書式や用語法も独特な発達を示した。元代の法律書の《元典章》も公牘から成ったものであり，清代皇帝と官僚との往復文書の宮中檔(硃批諭旨（しゆひゆし）)や明･清代の官庁文書は，行政の実態を伝える史料として，近年注目を集めている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

<<: Toxicant from waste minerals

>>: Luminosity function