Hanmoto Mitodoke (a government officer job in the Edo period) (判元見届)
Hanmoto Mitodoke was a term used to describe the act of confirmation by a government officer that was sent from the Edo bakufu, when a samurai family applied for matsugo-yoshi (adopting a son on the family head's deathbed). It was performed to confirm whether the family head (Hanmoto) who was in critical condition was still alive, and to check if there were anything questionable about the application. It was also performed to prevent cases where the seal on the application for matsugo yoshi had been forged, since the family head who was supposed to affix his seal on the application had already deceased.
With the presence of the family head, relatives of the son who was to be adopted, and one who was able to function as the family head, Ometsuke (chief inspector of the Edo shogunate) made the confirmation for daimyo families, and for Hatamoto (a direct retainer of the shogun family) or Gokennin (also a direct retainer of the shogun family but ranked lower than Hatamoto), kashira (head) or shihai of the Hatamoto or Gokenin group (when no kashira or shihai was available, it was carried out by Metsuke [inspector of foot soldiers] officer) made the confirmation. Afterwards, in the case for a Hatamoto or Gokenin, another matsugo-yoshi application was generated anew by the kashira (head) or shihai of his Hatamoto or Gokenin group, and both applications were submitted to Roju (the second-highest governmental post in the Edo bakufu) and Wakadoshiyori (the managerial post just under Roju).