, established in 603, was the first of what would be several similar cap and rank systems established during the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after t ...

Japanese history The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new invent ...

. It was adapted from similar systems that were already in place in

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Paekche Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jumon ...

and

Koguryŏ Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

. The officials wore silk caps that were decorated with gold and silver, and a feather that indicated the official's rank. The ranks in the twelve level cap and rank system consisted of the greater and the lesser of each of the six

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

virtues: , , , , and . The twelve cap system was replaced in 647.

Innovations

The primary distinction between this new system and the old '' kabane'' system by which a person's rank was determined based on heredity, was that the cap and rank system allowed for promotion based on merit and individual achievement. One of the more well known examples of promotion within the cap and rank system is that of

Ono no Imoko was a Japanese politician and diplomat in the late 6th and early 7th century, during the Asuka period. Ono was appointed by Empress Suiko as an official envoy ( Kenzuishi) to the Sui court in 607 (Imperial embassies to China), and he delivere ...

. When Imoko was first sent as an envoy to the Sui court in 607, he was ranked Greater Propriety (5th rank), but he was eventually promoted to the top rank of Greater Virtue because of his achievements, particularly during his second trip to Sui in 608.

Ranks and colors

The following table lists the various ranks and the colors that were believed to have been assigned to each one.Yoshimura, Takehiko: 'Kodai Ōken no Tenkai (古代王権の展開)', p. 126. Shūeisha, 1999.

References

{{reflist

External links

Court Ranks - The Samurai Wiki
Japanese nobility 603 establishments 7th-century establishments in Japan Prince Shōtoku de:Kan’i jūni kai