was the name of an ancient

title of nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...

in the '' kabane'' system of Yamato period Japan from the 4th through 6th century AD, before the introduction of the ''

Ritsuryō , , is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (律令制). ''Kyaku'' (格) are amendments of Ritsuryō, ''Shiki'' (� ...

'' system. The word is a combination of the ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' for with , a political unit smaller than a province, and the ''agatanushi'' ranked below the title of . It is thought that the ''agatanushi'' were originally chieftains of small

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

tribal states which had been annexed by the

Yamato state The was a tribal alliance centered on the Yamato region (Nara Prefecture) from the 4th century to the 7th century, and ruled over the alliance of noble families in the central and western parts of the Japanese archipelago. The age is from the ...

. Per the Chinese “History of the Sui Dynasty”, (589-618), Yamato was divided into ''kuni'' (国 provinces), which were subdivided into ''agata'' (県), which were governed respectively by ''kuni no miyatsuko'' and ''agatanushi'', who were responsible for collecting tribute. However, these offices seem to have been a confirmation of de facto local power, rather than a granting of office by the Yamato Court.

References

{{Authority control Ancient Japan Japanese historical terms Asuka period Kofun period Titles