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Ranks are often confused with offices or [[titles]], such as Dainagon, Shonagon, Udaijin, etc. Although each office was assigned a rank, it did not necessarily mean that the officeholder held that rank.
Ranks are often confused with offices or [[titles]], such as Dainagon, Shonagon, Udaijin, etc. Although each office was assigned a rank, it did not necessarily mean that the officeholder held that rank.
Nobles of third rank and above were sometimes called ''Gekkei'', or "moon lords," and those of the fifth and sixth ranks ''unkaku'' ("cloud dwellers"), poetic references alongside the Imperial Court as heaven and the Emperor as the sun.<ref>Arai Hakuseki, Joyce Ackroyd (trans.), Told Round a Brushwood Fire, University of Tokyo Press (1979), 303n118.</ref>
==Cap Ranks of [[Empress Suiko|Suiko Tenno]]==
==Cap Ranks of [[Empress Suiko|Suiko Tenno]]==
The first court ranking system that appears in the chronicles is the cap-rank system of Empress Suiko. According to the [[Nihon Shoki]] this system was devised on the 5th day of the 12th month of the 11th year of Suiko ([[603]]) and implemented in the first month of the following year. The ranks were:
The first court ranking system that appears in the chronicles is the cap-rank system of Empress Suiko. According to the [[Nihon Shoki]] this system was devised on the 5th day of the 12th month of the 11th year of Suiko (11 January [[604]]) and implemented in the first month of the following year. The ranks were:
===Rank System of 603===
===Rank System of 603===
The above system has retained its form even to modern times, though its use has waxed and waned with the activity of the court.
The above system has retained its form even to modern times, though its use has waxed and waned with the activity of the court.
==Edo Period==
In the [[Edo period]], court rank and the associated ''[[ritsuryo|ritsuryô]]'' titles became merely a symbolic, honorary, distinction, with no real power or political position at court. However, these remained of vital importance within the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], as court rank and title were key determining factors as to a ''daimyô's'' privileges, potential for political office, and treatment otherwise by the shogunate.
In [[1606]], [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] ordered the Imperial court to not award any court rank to any ''bushi'' without that individual first being recommended by the shogunate for that rank. In [[1620]], ''bushi'' were removed from the ''kugyô bunin'', a listing of all Imperial courtiers Third Rank and above; this meant that while ''bushi'' could still enjoy the honorary privilege and prestige of high court rank, they were no longer listed among those directly answerable to the Court.<ref>Kate Wildman Nakai, ''Shogunal Politics'', Harvard University Press (1988), 176-177.</ref>
*The Tokugawa shogun held the title of ''[[Naidaijin]]'' 内大臣.
*Lords of the [[Owari Tokugawa clan|Owari]] and [[Kishu Tokugawa clan|Kishû Tokugawa clan]]s held the title of ''[[Dainagon]]'' 大納言.
*Lords of the [[Mito Tokugawa clan]] held the title of ''[[Chunagon|Chûnagon]]'' 中納言.
*Lords of the [[Maeda clan]] held the title ''[[Sangi]]'' 参議.
*Lords of the [[Shimazu clan|Shimazu]] and [[Date clan]]s typically rose to the title of ''[[Chujo|Chûjô]]'' 中将("Middle Captain") at some point in their tenure.
*Other high-ranking ''[[kunimochi]] daimyô'' typically held the title of ''[[Shosho|Shôshô]]'' 少将 ("Lesser Captain")
*Lower-ranking ''kunimochi daimyô'' typically held the title of ''[[Jiju|Jijû]]'' 侍従 ("Chamberlain"), but were sometimes promoted to ''Shôshô'' after ruling for thirty years or a similarly long or honorable tenure.
*''Jun-kunimochi daimyô'' were typically of Fourth Rank (''shihon'' 四品), but were sometimes promoted to ''Jijû''.
*Most other ''daimyô'' were considered Junior Lower Fifth Rank 従五位下, with the title of ''[[dayu|dayû]]'' 太夫, but after serving for many years they were sometimes granted a promotion to Fourth Rank.
==References==
==References==
* [[Nihon Shoki]]
* [[Nihon Shoki]]
* [[Shoku Nihongi]]
* [[Shoku Nihongi]]
* 2006, "A User-Friendly Timeline of Ancient Japanese History (with furigana): From the earliest times to 1155", Yoshikawa Kobunkan, ISBN 4-642-01436-5.
*Yamamoto Hirofumi, ''Sankin kôtai'', Kodansha gendai shinsho (1998), 196-197.
<references/>
==See also==
*[[Ryukyuan court ranks|Court ranks in Ryûkyû]]
*[[Court ranks in China]]
[[Category:Asuka Period]][[Category:Nara Period]][[Category:Heian Period]]
[[Category:Asuka Period]][[Category:Nara Period]][[Category:Heian Period]][[Category:Ranks_and_Titles]]
