Formal — to stranger
Cultural · Communication
拝啓 新緑の候、皆様におかれましてはますますご清祥のこととお慶び申し上げます。 — Dear Sir/Madam, In this season of fresh green leaves, I am delighted to hear that everyone is in increasingly excellent health. (Cultural · Communication, Formal — to stranger, JLPT N1)
You
拝啓 新緑の候、皆様におかれましてはますますご清祥のこととお慶び申し上げます。
はいけい しんりょくのこう、みなさまにおかれましてはますますごせいしょうのこととおよろこびもうしあげます。
Dear Sir/Madam, In this season of fresh green leaves, I am delighted to hear that everyone is in increasingly excellent health.
Romaji: Haikei, shinryoku no kou, minasama ni okaremashite wa masumasu goseishou no koto to oyorokobi moushi agemasu. / Reply Romaji: (Reply letter would open with the same structural pattern.)
Reply
（返書も同様の定型で開く）
（へんしょもどうようのていけいでひらく）
(A reply letter would open with the same structural pattern.)
Gesture & etiquette
Letter-only phrase. Written carefully with a brush pen or quality fountain pen for ceremonial occasions. If reading aloud at a formal event, stand straight, read slowly with measured cadence, do not rush.
Formal Japanese letters follow a rigid opening: 'Haikei' (the opening word) → seasonal greeting (kisetsu no aisatsu) → wellbeing inquiry → main body → 'Keigu' (closing). 'Shinryoku no kou' refers specifically to late April-May. Each season has its own greeting phrases. Without this structure, a formal letter to a stranger or superior can read as rude. Modern email business correspondence has largely simplified this, but ceremonial letters (invitations, condolences, year-end greetings) still demand it.