Shikibu-shō

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Pre-modern Japan

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Politics and government of
Pre-modern Japan


Asuka PeriodNara PeriodHeian PeriodKamakura periodKemmu restorationMuromachi periodNanboku-chō periodSengoku periodAzuchi-Momoyama period


Edo Period, 1603–1868

Daijō-kan
The Great Council of State

The Eight Ministries

Meiji Period,1868–1912 1868–1871
1871–1875

1875–1881
1881–1885

1885–1889
Taishō period, 1912–1926 Shōwa period, 1926–1989 1947

Heisei period, 1989–present

The Shikibu-shō (式部省?) was one of the divisions of the Japanese government (Imperial Court in Kyoto), instituted in the Asuka period and formalized during the Heian period This Imperial ministry was concerned primarily with administrative matters. This part of the bureaucracy has been variously identified as the Ministry of the Civil Services, the Ministry of Legislative Direction and Public Instruction,[1] and the Ministry of Civil Administration.[2]

This ministry collected and maintained biographical archives of meritorious subjects.[3]

The Shikibu-shō had the following duties:

  • Supervision of the listings of civil officers.
  • Assisting in court office and rank appointments, and rewarding meritorious service.
  • Supervision of schools and civil examinations.
  • Appointment of stewards in the houses of princes, as well as in the houses of kuge of the third rank and higher.
  • Supervision of pensions and donations.
  • Decisions relating to order of precedence at congratulatory occasions or festivals.[4]

In the Edo period, titles related to the Shikibu-shō, such as Shikibu-dayū, were largely ceremonial and could be held by non-kuge, such as daimyō lords.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 427.
  2. ^ Ministry of Civil Administration, Sheffield.
  3. ^ Ury, Marian. (1999). "Chinese Learning and Intellectual Life," The Cambridge history of Japan: Heian Japan, p. 361.
  4. ^ a b Kawakami, Karl Kiyoshi. (1903). The Political Ideas of Modern Japan, pp. 36-37.


[edit] See also

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