# 民法 / Civil Code — 第九百六十八条 (Article 968) - Law: 民法 (Civil Code), 明治二十九年法律第八十九号 - English title "Civil Code": Ministry of Justice translation - Kind: Act — the distinction between 法律 (Act), 政令 (Cabinet Order), 省令 (Ministerial Order) and 条例 (local ordinance) decides who may issue it and what it may say. - Provision: 第九百六十八条 (Article 968)（自筆証書遺言） — address `art-968` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-968 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-968 - Every provision below carries its address and both URLs on the line under it. - Japanese text: e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁). English: as marked on each line below. Only the Japanese as published by the government has legal effect; the text below is a copy of it. Every English rendering below is a translation and says which kind: the Ministry of Justice's translation, or this site's machine translation, whose model and date the Sources list names. They are never merged and never substituted for one another. --- ### 第九百六十八条（自筆証書遺言） — (Holographic Wills) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-968 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-968 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-968 **第一項** 自筆証書によって遺言をするには、遺言者が、その全文、日付及び氏名を自書し、これに印を押さなければならない。 art-968/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-968/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-968/par-1 To make a will in the form of a holographic instrument, the testator must write the entire text, the date, and the testator's full name in the testator's own hand, and affix the testator's seal thereto. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 前項の規定にかかわらず、自筆証書にこれと一体のものとして相続財産（第九百九十七条第一項に規定する場合における同項に規定する権利を含む。）の全部又は一部の目録を添付する場合には、その目録については、自書することを要しない。この場合において、遺言者は、その目録の毎葉（自書によらない記載がその両面にある場合にあっては、その両面）に署名し、印を押さなければならない。 art-968/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-968/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-968/par-2 Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, if a list of all or part of the estate (including the rights prescribed in Article 997, paragraph (1) in the case prescribed in that paragraph) is attached to a holographic instrument as an integral part of it, the list need not be written in the testator's own hand. In this case, the testator must sign and affix the testator's seal on every sheet of the list (or, if there is writing not in the testator's own hand on both sides of a sheet, on both sides). machine translation, not official **第三項** 自筆証書（前項の目録を含む。）中の加除その他の変更は、遺言者が、その場所を指示し、これを変更した旨を付記して特にこれに署名し、かつ、その変更の場所に印を押さなければ、その効力を生じない。 art-968/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-968/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-968/par-3 An insertion, deletion, or any other alteration to a holographic instrument (including the list referred to in the preceding paragraph) is not valid unless the testator specifically signs a supplementary note disclosing the location of the alteration and indicating that it has been made, and also affixes the testator's seal to the place that has been altered. machine translation, not official --- ## Cites - art-968/par-2: 前項 → 民法 第九百六十八条第一項 (Article 968, paragraph (1)), art-968/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-968/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-968/par-1 - art-968/par-2: 第九百九十七条第一項 → 民法 第九百九十七条第一項 (Article 997, paragraph (1)), art-997/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-997/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-997/par-1 - art-968/par-3: 前項 → 民法 第九百六十八条第二項 (Article 968, paragraph (2)), art-968/par-2 — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-968/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-968/par-2 ## Cited by 6 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民法 第九百六十八条第二項（自筆証書遺言） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-968/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-968/par-2 - 民法 第九百六十八条第三項（自筆証書遺言） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-968/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-968/par-3 - 民法 第九百七十条第二項（秘密証書遺言） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-970/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-970/par-2 - 民法 第九百七十一条第一項（方式に欠ける秘密証書遺言の効力） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-971/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-971/par-1 - 民法 第九百八十二条第一項（普通の方式による遺言の規定の準用） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-982/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-982/par-1 - 民法 附則第六条第一項（自筆証書遺言の方式に関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/suppl-4301-72/art-6/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/suppl-4301-72/art-6/par-1 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 民法 — the text in force from 2026-06-24 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/129AC0000000089/20260624_508AC0000000045), retrieved 2026-10-11 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Civil Code — Ministry of Justice translation (part 2 of 2) (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4275/tb), retrieved 2026-10-11 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Civil Code — Ministry of Justice translation (part 1 of 2) (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4848/tb), retrieved 2026-10-11 - claude-sonnet-5-5 — Machine translation, batch civil-code-20261011T170941-007, translated 2026-10-12 - This site's parser, version 190 — 民法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-11