1.
to whom it may concern; to all concerned parties
A formal salutation used at the top of written notices, emails, memos, and announcements addressed to everyone involved in a matter. It is one of the most common opening phrases in Japanese business correspondence and official documents.
関係者各位
平素より大変お世話になっております。
To whom it may concern,
Thank you for your continued support.
関係者各位宛てにメールを送った。
I sent an email addressed to all concerned parties.
関係者各位、下記の通り会議の日程が変更となりましたのでお知らせいたします。
To all concerned parties, we would like to inform you that the meeting schedule has been changed as noted below.
Composed of 関係者 (concerned parties, literally "people related to [something]") and 各位 (each and every one, a formal plural honorific). Functions as the Japanese equivalent of "To whom it may concern" or "Dear all" in English business writing, and is one of the most frequently seen opening lines in Japanese workplace correspondence.
USAGE:
- Placed at the very top of an email, memo, or notice on its own line, followed by a blank line before the body.
- 各位 is already an honorific, so adding 様 (as in ×関係者各位様) is considered incorrect and redundant — a common mistake among new employees.
- Used only when the writer does not know or need to name individual recipients. If names are known, use ○○様 or ○○部長 instead.
- Typical contexts: internal announcements, customer notices, event invitations, policy changes.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 関係者各位宛て: addressed to all concerned parties
- 関係者各位へお知らせ: a notice to all concerned parties
- 関係者各位へのご連絡: communication to all concerned parties
- 社内関係者各位: to all concerned parties within the company
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 各位: each of you — can stand alone as a salutation, often preceded by a group name (e.g., 社員各位 "to all employees")
- 皆様: everyone (polite) — less formal than 各位, warmer in tone
- 御中: "Messrs." — used when addressing a company or department rather than individuals
- 様: Mr./Ms. — used for individually named recipients, not with 各位
- 担当者様: "to the person in charge" — used when the recipient's name is unknown