A letter 'cho' was placed under a sender and at the beginning of a text, the text was closed by letters 'kocho' and the date was followed by the signatures of the benkan and recorder (ritsuryo system) who made the dajokancho.
差出相手の下と本文冒頭において「牒」という1文字をそれぞれに加え、更に書止には「故牒」の文字が加えられ、日付の次に太政官牒を作成した弁官と史(律令制)が署名が記された。