was a government position in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the late

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

and

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

s. The position was consolidated in the

Taihō Code The was an administrative reorganisation enacted in 703 in Japan, at the end of the Asuka period. It was historically one of the . It was compiled at the direction of Prince Osakabe, Fujiwara no Fuhito and Awata no Mahito. Nussbaum, Louis ...

of 702. The

Asuka Kiyomihara Code The refers to a collection of governing rules compiled and promulgated in 689, one of the first, if not the first collection of Ritsuryō laws in classical Japan. This also marks the initial appearance of the central administrative body called ...

of 689 marks the initial appearance of the ''udaijin'' in the context of a central administrative body called the ''

Daijō-kan The , also known as the Great Council of State, was (i) (''Daijō-kan'') the highest organ of Japan's premodern Imperial government under the Ritsuryō legal system during and after the Nara period or (ii) (''Dajō-kan'') the highest organ of Jap ...

'' (Council of State). This early Daijō-kan was composed of the three ministers—the ''

daijō-daijin The was the head of the ''Daijō-kan'' (Great Council of State) during and after the Nara period and briefly under the Meiji Constitution. Equivalent to the Chinese (Grand Preceptor). History Emperor Tenji's favorite son, Prince Ōtomo, wa ...

'' (Chancellor), the '' sadaijin'' (Minister of the Left) and the ''udaijin''.Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1993)
''The Cambridge History of Japan,'' p. 232.
/ref> The ''udaijin'' was the Junior Minister of State, overseeing all branches of the ''Daijō-kan''. He would be the deputy of the '' sadaijin''.''Shin-meikai-kokugo-jiten'', Sanseido Co., Ltd., Tokyo 1974 The post of ''udaijin'', along with the rest of the ''Daijō-kan'' structure, gradually lost power over the 10th and 11th centuries, as the

Fujiwara Fujiwara (, written: 藤原 lit. "''Wisteria'' field") is a Japanese surname. (In English conversation it is likely to be rendered as .) Notable people with the surname include: ; Families * The Fujiwara clan and its members ** Fujiwara no Kamatari ...

came to dominate politics more and more. The system was essentially powerless by the end of the 12th century, when the

Minamoto was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during th ...

, a warrior clan and branch of the imperial family, seized control of the country from the court aristocracy ('' kuge''). However, it is not entirely clear whether the ''Daijō-kan'' system was formally dismantled prior to the Meiji era.

Notes

References

* Asai, T. (1985). ''Nyokan Tūkai''. Tokyo:

Kōdansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines '' Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', '' Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' ...

. * Dickenson, Walter G. (1869). ''Japan: Being a Sketch of the History, Government and Officers of the Empire.'' London: W. Blackwood and Sons. * Hall, John Whitney, Delmer M. Brown and Kozo Yamamura. (1993)
''The Cambridge History of Japan.''
Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

. * Ozaki, Yukio. (2001). ''The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in Japan.'' ranslated by Fujiko Hara Princeton:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...

. (cloth) * Ozaki, Yukio. (1955). ''Ozak Gakudō Zenshū.'' Tokyo: Kōronsha. * Sansom, George (1958). ''A History of Japan to 1334''. Stanford:

Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...

. * Screech, Timon. (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822.'' London: Routledge Curzon. * Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/Hayashi_Gahō,_1652.html" ;"title="Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō">iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652">Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō">iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652 ''Nipon o daï itsi ran''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon.''
Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. * Varley, H. Paul, ed. (1980). Kitabatake_Chikafusa,_1359.html" ;"title="Kitabatake_Chikafusa.html" ;"title="Kitabatake Chikafusa">Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359">Kitabatake_Chikafusa.html" ;"title="Kitabatake Chikafusa">Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359 ''Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley).'' New York: Columbia University Press. {{refend Government of feudal Japan Japanese historical terms Meiji Restoration

See also

Notes

References