Ministry of Civil Services

Pre-modern Japan

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Pre-modern Japan


Daijō-kan
Council of State

Eight Ministries

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Meiji government

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Postwar Shōwa period

The Ministry of Civil Services (式部省 Shikibu-shō?) was a division of the eighth century Japanese government of the Imperial Court in Kyoto,[1] instituted in the Asuka period and formalized during the Heian period. The Ministry was replaced in the Meiji period.

Contents

Overview

This part of the bureaucracy has been variously identified as the "Ministry of the Civil Services," the Ministry of Legislative Direction and Public Instruction.[2] and the Ministry of Civil Administration[3] or the Ministry of Rites.[4]

The Ministry's activities encompassed maintenance of the lists of civil officers, oversight of appointments to office and to rank (third grade and above) and stewards in the imperial palace, and administration of rewards for service. Additionally the ministry was an administrative body for schools and civil examinations, pensions, and donations. The ministry was tasked with maintaining the order of precedence of the various officials at the time of congratulatory occasions and of festivals.[5]

This ministry collected and maintained biographical archives of meritorious subjects.[6]

History

In 758, this ministry was renamed Mombushō. The original name was restored in 764;[4] and this name was unchanged until the ritsuryō system was abandoned during the Meiji period.

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.

Hierarchy

The court hierarchy developed a Ministry of the Civil Services (式部省, Shikibu-shō?);[2] also known as the "Ministry of Legislative Direction and Public Instruction".[3] This ministry collected and maintained biographical archives of meritorious subjects.[6] Amongst the significant Daijō-kan officials within this ministry structure were:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Kawakami, Karl Kiyoshi. (1903). The Political Ideas of the Modern Japan, pp. 36-38. at Google Books
  2. ^ a b Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 427 at Google Books
  3. ^ a b Ministry of Civil Administration, Sheffield.
  4. ^ a b Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric et al. (2005). "Shikibushō" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 856. at Google Books
  5. ^ Kawakami, p. 37 n2, at Google Books citing Ito Hirobumi, Commentaries on the Japanese Constitution, p. 86 (1889).
  6. ^ a b Ury, Marian. (1999). "Chinese Learning and Intellectual Life," The Cambridge History of Japan: Heian Japan, p. 361.
  7. ^ Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, p. 272.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Titsingh, p. 428 at Google Books

References