Japanese Ringi Approval Process: The Ringisho, Its Route and Stamps

The core idea: a decision that travels on paper

Ringi (稟議) is built from rin, to report humbly to a superior, and gi, deliberation, so it is literally a matter put up to one's superiors for deliberation. The document is the ringisho (稟議書), sho meaning a written document. A ringi is used for decisions that need someone else's authority: buying equipment, signing a contract, hiring, travel above a set cost.

The system reflects a view of decisions as shared. Everyone who will live with the result sees the proposal and puts their name to it, so nobody can later say they were never told, and responsibility is spread along the route. The price is time. How much needs a ringi varies widely by company; start-ups may use a chat message where an older firm uses a form. The related post on nemawashi covers the talking that comes first, and the post on job titles covers the ranks on the route. Two colleagues are discussing a purchase.

The route: from kiansha to kessaisha

The drafter, the kiansha (起案者), literally the person who raises the draft, sends the ringisho up one rank at a time. Who approves last is set by the company's rules on approval authority, kessai kengen (決裁権限), usually by type and amount: a small purchase may stop at the department manager, a large one may go to a director or the president. On the way it may go sideways to related departments for aigi (合議), usually read this way in approval routes, though gōgi is also heard, so that accounting or legal can check it. Any approver can send it back.

UnihongoBusiness Japanese

この金額きんがくだと、決裁けっさい者しゃは本部ほんぶ長ちょうになります。For this amount, the final approver is the division head.

Reading a ringisho: the header and the stamp boxes

Formats differ by company, but most ringisho carry the same fields: the date of drafting, kianbi; the drafter and their department; the subject, kenmei, which conventionally ends in no ken, regarding; the amount, kingaku; attachments, tenpu shiryō, such as quotes; and a box for the result. The body below sets out the purpose, the reasons and the options considered.

The row of stamp boxes is the ōinran (押印欄), literally the column for pressing seals. On many forms the most senior box is on the left and the drafter's on the right, so stamps fill in from right to left, the direction of traditional vertical writing. Each approver presses a small personal seal with their surname, a mitomein, literally an acknowledgement seal. Some workplaces keep a custom of tilting the seal slightly towards the boss's box, as if bowing; many people have never met it, so follow what your colleagues do.

UnihongoBusiness Japanese

件名けんめいの書き方かきかたはこれで合っあっていますか。Is this the right way to write the subject?

Pairs that confuse learners

Kessai is the classic trap. Written 決裁, it is approval by the person with authority; the second kanji means to judge, as in a court's ruling. Written 決済, it is the settlement of a payment, the word on card terminals and in kessai-bi, settlement date. Input methods often offer the payment spelling first. A newcomer checking a draft asks the question everyone asks once.

Ringi and nemawashi: the talk before, the paper after

Nemawashi, literally going round the roots, is the informal work of talking a proposal through with each person before it is submitted. Ringi is what makes the result official. A ringi without nemawashi tends to come back with questions, because the first time an approver hears of the idea is when it lands on the desk; nemawashi without ringi has no formal effect. That is why the approvers on a well-prepared ringi rarely read it for the first time. A senior colleague gives a newcomer advice.

Beyond the basics: electronic ringi and the fading hanko

Many companies now run denshi ringi (電子稟議), electronic ringi, in a workflow system, wākufurō shisutemu. The route is set in the software, each approver gets a notification, and approval is a button, sometimes displayed with an image of the approver's seal. Sashimodoshi arrives with a written comment, and the history shows who approved when. When an approver is away, a deputy may approve in their place, dairi shōnin.

The shift sped up in 2020. In June that year the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry published a Q&A stating that, unless a law requires it, a contract is valid without a seal, and remote working made paper routes impractical. Paper and hanko survive in some companies and public offices, so ask which system yours uses. A team is handling approvals online.

The verbs of the journey: ageru, mawasu, tōru, oriru

Office talk describes a ringi by its movement. You ringi o ageru, raise it upwards, and ringi o mawasu, send it round. It either ringi ga tōru, gets through, or sashimodosareru, is sent back. Final approval kessai ga oriru, comes down, because it descends from above. To suppliers, people say shanai de ringi-chū desu, it is going through internal approval, a polite way of saying not yet. With superiors, the same verbs appear in keigo.

Common mistakes newcomers make with ringi

Writing 決済 in an approval document. The cause is the input method, which often offers the payment word first for kessai. Check every kessai in a ringi and use 決裁.

Using the ringi to persuade. Newcomers from cultures where proposals are argued in a meeting pack the case into the document and expect it to win approvers over. The persuading belongs to nemawashi; the ringisho records what has been agreed.

Skipping a level to save time. Taking it straight to the buchō feels efficient, but the order of the route is part of the respect shown to each rank, and a skipped kakarichō may send it back. Follow the route even when it is slow.

Treating an early stamp as the decision. Each shōnin feels like progress, and it is, but only kessai commits the company. Placing an order early can leave you personally explaining a purchase that was never approved.