Mochu Hagaki Checker — Japanese Mourning Postcard Eligibility & Timing
Enter the date of death and your relationship to the deceased to instantly check whether a mochu hagaki (喪中はがき, Japanese New Year mourning notice) is customary, and whether to send it before the New Year or switch to a kanchu mimai (寒中見舞い) in January.
Relationship-to-kinship-degree reference table
| Relationship | Degree of kinship | Customary scope |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse | — (spouse) | Customarily within scope |
| Parent | 1st degree | Customarily within scope |
| Parent-in-law | 1st degree | Customarily within scope |
| Child | 1st degree | Customarily within scope |
| Grandparent | 2nd degree | Customarily within scope |
| Grandparent-in-law | 2nd degree | Customarily within scope |
| Sibling | 2nd degree | Customarily within scope |
| Sibling-in-law | 2nd degree | Customarily within scope |
| Grandchild | 2nd degree | Customarily within scope |
| Aunt / uncle | 3rd degree | Case-by-case, by region and family |
| Nephew / niece | 3rd degree | Case-by-case, by region and family |
| Cousin | 4th degree | Case-by-case, by region and family |
What is a mochu hagaki checker?
A mochu hagaki (喪中はがき, literally "mourning postcard") is a Japanese New Year custom: if you have lost a close relative during the year, you send a notice saying you will be skipping New Year greetings out of respect for mourning, instead of sending a regular nengajo (年賀状) New Year card. There is no legal definition of which relationships qualify — the common guideline is relatives within the 2nd degree of kinship (spouse, parents, children, grandparents, siblings, grandchildren), but families also weigh whether they lived together and how close the relationship was.
This tool takes the date of death and your relationship to the deceased, and instantly checks whether it is customarily within scope, plus whether you should send a mochu hagaki before the New Year or switch to a kanchu mimai (寒中見舞い, a winter greeting sent in January) if the death occurred too close to year-end to notify people before they prepare their own New Year cards.
How to use this checker
- Enter the date of death Pick the date from the calendar.
- Select your relationship to the deceased Choose from the dropdown list.
- Review the scope and recommended timing The degree of kinship, customary scope, and whether to send a mochu hagaki or a kanchu mimai (with the recommended window) are shown.
Tips for getting more out of it
- If the death occurred after around December 15, a mochu hagaki is unlikely to arrive in time. Rather than rushing, it is customary to wait until after matsu no uchi (松の内, the New Year decoration period, typically through January 7) and send a kanchu mimai instead.
- Beyond the 3rd degree of kinship (aunts/uncles, nephews/nieces, cousins), there is no fixed rule on whether to send one. Families who lived together or were especially close often choose to send one anyway — it is worth discussing with family.
- A mochu hagaki typically states the month of death, the relationship, and the sender's name. It is considered good manners to leave out the specific cause of death.
- If you receive a mochu hagaki, the polite response is to refrain from sending a regular New Year card, and instead reply with a kanchu mimai in January.
When this checker helps
Deciding whether to send a mochu hagaki
Check whether your relationship to the deceased customarily falls within the 2nd-degree scope, as a starting point for a family discussion.
Avoiding a missed sending window
Automatically checks whether a death near year-end still allows time for a mochu hagaki, so you do not miss the switch to a kanchu mimai.
Before ordering New Year cards
Confirm whether this year falls within a mourning period before placing an early order or print run for New Year cards.
Mochu hagaki terms explained
- Mochu (喪中)
- The period of mourning observed after losing a close relative. There is no fixed legal length; about one year is the common guideline.
- Nengajo kirei-jo (年賀欠礼状)
- The formal name for a mochu hagaki — a notice stating that New Year greetings will be skipped this year due to mourning.
- Kanchu mimai (寒中見舞い)
- A seasonal greeting card sent between the start of "kan" (around January 5) and risshun (around February 4). Also used as a substitute when a mochu hagaki could not be sent in time.
- Matsu no uchi (松の内)
- The period New Year decorations are displayed, commonly through January 7 (January 15 in some regions). A kanchu mimai is customarily sent only after matsu no uchi ends.
- Degree of kinship
- A measure of how closely two people are related. Parent and child are 1st degree; siblings, grandparents and grandchildren are 2nd degree, counted by generational distance.
Frequently asked questions
Side Note — how long has the mochu hagaki custom been around?
The mochu hagaki custom is actually much younger than the nengajo (New Year card) tradition itself. Nengajo spread widely once Japan's modern postal system was established in the Meiji era, but the practice of proactively notifying people that you will be skipping New Year greetings due to mourning is generally traced to the postwar economic boom of the Showa era, once nengajo postcards became a truly mass-market product.
One driver was simply the growing number of New Year cards people exchanged. When most correspondents were relatives and neighbours, everyone already knew who had experienced a loss that year. As nengajo exchanges expanded to colleagues and distant acquaintances, a mass-notification method became necessary — and the mochu hagaki filled that role.
The recommended sending window of mid-November through early December is closely tied to Japan Post's own schedule: nengajo postcards are typically accepted for New Year delivery starting around December 15. Sending a mochu hagaki before that date means it reaches people before they sit down to write their own cards, which is the practical reason this window became the norm.