How to say "magistrate" in Japanese

• 奉行ぶぎょうCommon
  nounA historical term for a magistrate as a shogunate administrator; you meet it in historical writing about the shogunate and its officials.
• 判官はんがんCommon
  nounCovers the judicial sense of magistrate: it also means judge, so use it when you mean a magistrate as a judge.

Use 奉行 for the historical sense of magistrate as a shogunate administrator, and 判官 for the judicial sense of magistrate as a judge.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 奉行ぶぎょうmagistrate
• 判官はんがんjudge
• 審問官しんもんかんinvestigator