also: かんせい
Forgive me for dispensing with the preliminaries, but I hasten to inform you that ...
A formal, old-fashioned opening phrase used in brief letters to skip customary seasonal greetings and get straight to the point. Rare in modern correspondence.
Forgive me for dispensing with the preliminaries, but thank you very much for your help the other day.
I apologize for omitting the formal greetings, but I will get straight to the point.
Standard kanji form for this formal letter salutation.
Irregular reading; it has irregular kana usage. The standard reading is かんしょう.
From 冠 (かん, 'crown' or 'beginning') and 省 (しょう, 'omit'), literally 'omitting the beginning', referring to skipping the formal opening greetings in a letter.