Seven kinds of caking coals with carbon contents of 80-88 wt % dry and ash-free basis (daf) have been carbonized in high-purity He at 3 degrees C/min up to 1000 degrees C with a fixed-bed quartz reactor, and the fate of coal-bound nitrogen (coal N) has been investigated in detail. The nitrogen mass balances fall within 97-104%. Most coal N is retained as quaternary N in the cokes, and the rest is released as volatile N (tar N, HCN, NH3, and N-2). NH3 is the main N species evolved below 650 degrees C, irrespective of the kind of coal, and the profile for the rate of NH3 formation shows the main peak at about 450 degrees C, followed by a small peak at around 670 degrees C in every case. Significant amounts of HCN are also observed below 650 degrees C, and the rate profiles for HCN as well as NH3 exhibit two peaks at around 450 and 670 degrees C, whereas most N-2 is formed at the temperature range of 650-1000 degrees C. The distribution of volatile N at 1000 degrees C is in the order of tar N < HCN < NH3 approximate to N-2 for almost all coals. Each coal used gives a Gieseler maximum fluidity (MF) of 1.1-4.0 log(ddpm) at around 450 degrees C (440-480 degrees C), and it seems that the MF value tends to increase when the total amount of either HCN or NH3 evolved up to 450 degrees C increases.