Ministry of Popular Affairs

The may refer to:
# one of the of the Japanese imperial court, established by the Taihō Code of the early 8th century, and continued under the Ritsuryō legal system.
# A short-lived ministry during the Meiji period (August–September 1869, August 1870 – September 1871).

Minbu-shō (Ritsuryō)

The ministry, established by the Taihō Code and Ritsuryō laws, was one of the Eight Ministries, in the wing of four ministries reporting to the out of eight ministries. As the name indicates, this body was concerned with oversight over the affairs of the common people, viewed as taxable producers of goods. The ministry maintained various records: the population census sent from the provinces, cadastral (real estate) records, and tax accounting records.

Ministerial authority under Yōrō Code

The Yōrō Code (a revised version of the Taihō Code that created the ministry), stipulates the powers vested in the ministry, under its . There it is stated that :

In the above "all provinces" does not include the capital. The census for the aristocracy who had clan names ('' uji'' or ''kabane'') etc. was under the purview of the Jibu-shō (Ministry of Civil Administration). And the ministry was not "directly responsible for the upkeep of roads, bridgees, etc.," but merely kept such records for taxation and tax transportation tracking purposes.

Popular Affairs certificate

The ministry issued order certificates or charters called the to officials and provincial governors ('' kokushi''). The ''shōen'' system recognized private ownership of reclaimed rice-paddy lands, but did not automatically confer tax-exemption (as some misleading dictionary definitions suggest). From the early Heian period, the tax-exempt or leniency status was ratified by the certificate or charter () issued either by this ministry or the Great Council (daijō-kan) itself. (See ).The Ministry of Popular Affairs (which dealt with the common people and not the gentry) did not have the decision-power to issue such charter on its own initiative. It merely drafted and rubberstamped the charter at the behest of the Great Council.

In the period (859–877) occurred a breakdown of the Ritsuryō system under the Fujiwara no Yoshifusa regime, with authorities of the ministries absorbed by the Great Council. The decree of Jōgan 4, VII, 27 (August 826)in volume 6 of essentially stripped the ministry of its control over the tax-leniency policy, ordaining that all applications for tax relief would be decided completely by the Great Council of State (daijō-kan), and its ruling delivered directly to the countries by the Great Council's certificate (''daijō-kan fu''). The ministry still issued certificates for exemptions on the ''shōen'' estates, but this was just rubberstamping decisions from above, as before. These changes in the exercise of administration were codified in the and later Engishiki.There is a shift in terminology. The exemption from , which are mentioned in the Jōgan decree and the Engishiki, was understood to include the rights The ministry was thus reduced to processing clerical responsibilities concerning the provinces.

Hierarchy

The was headed by the minister, whose office was ordinarily filled by a son or close relative of the emperor, of the fourth grade or higher.; Samson does not redundantly print the Japanese 8-fold for each ministry. For the Japanese equivalent, consult pp. 71-77; pp. 77-82; pp.82-83 (overview and first two ministries). Totsomg gives Japanese representation next to each French name of office, but the latter does not correspond well with modern English translations.

* - "Minister of Popular Affairs"
: aliases: "Chief administrator of the ministry of civil services"Varley, H. Paul. (1980). ''Jinnō Shōtōki,'' p. 272.
* - "Senior Assistant Minister of Popular Affairs"
: aliases: "Vice-Minister"
* - "Junior Assistant Minister of Popular Affairs"; quote: "(Year) 877, Michizane was named junior assistant minister of ceremonial."
: aliases: "Assistant Vice-Minister"
* (x 2) - " eniorSecretaries"; "Senior Secretary in the Bureau of Popular Affairss"
* (x 2) - "Junior Secretaries"
* (x 1) - " eniorRecorder"
* (x 3) - "Junior Recorders"

Under the Ministry were two bureaus:

The , the "Bureau of Computation" or "Bureau of Statistics." was in charge of two forms of taxes, the and the . The ''yō'' was a form of conscripted compulsory labor, or more often the goods paid to be exempt from the obligation.

The , the "Tax Bureau," was in charge of the third form of tax, the . The three forms of taxes were known as under the Ritsuryō system.

* - "Director"
* - "Assistant director"
* - "Secretary"
* - "Assistant Secretary"
* - "Senior Clerk"
* - "Junior Clerk"
* (x 2) - "Accountants"
: trained mathematicians who calculated tax revenue and expenditures.

* - "Director"
: The director was in charge of dispensing and receipt from the government granaries. ''so''
* - "Assistant director"
* - "Secretary"
* - "Assistant Secretary"
* - "Senior Clerk"
* - "Junior Clerk"
* (x 2) - "Accountants"
: trained mathematicians who kept tax records.

The was an ancillary facility to this ministry that stored a portion of the corvée tax (''yō'' of ''soyōchō'') and , which were distributed during ceremonies and functions.This differs from the ''Ōiryō'', the granary of the Imperial Household Ministry.

Personages who held offices

* , minister (883–887), known as Zai Minbukyō ("Zai" being the Chinese reading of the first letter of his surname).
* , junior assistant minister (874), minister (896).
* 873–947, aka "Uji no Minbukyō" or "the Uji Director (of the Ministry of Popular Affairs).
* The fictional , foster brother of Hikaru Genji was ''Minbu no taifu''.;Commissioner of Civil Affairs (probably Koremitsu), p.228. ''Minbu no Taifu'' = Commissioner of Civil Affairs p.1162
* Fujiwara no Tameie (1198–1275) was nominal minister, but governance had already shifted to ''samurai'' in the Kamakura period

List of translated aliases

; literal
* Bureau of Civil Affairs
* Popular Affairs Department
* Popular Affairs Ministry
* Ministry of Popular AffairsOrganizational chart diagram,
* Ministry of Population

; semantic
* Department of Revenue and Census
* Ministry of Civil AdministrationMinistry of Civil Administration
Sheffield.
* Ministry of Civil Services
* Ministry of Personnel

See also

* Daijō-kan

Explanatory notes

Citations

References

; Translations of primary sources
* (Yōrō Code administrative laws and ministerial organization, as preserved in ''Ryō no Gige'', excerpted translation and summary.)
*
*

; Secondary sources
* (organizational chart)
*
*
** — Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press (1903
Internet Archive, full text
*
*
* ; (organizational chart)
*
** e-text a
Cornell digital collection
*
*
* (tr. of ''Nihon Odai Ichiran'')
*
*
* Ury, Marian. (1999). "Chinese Learning and Intellectual Life," ''The Cambridge history of Japan: Heian Japan''. Vol. II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Varley, H. Paul. (1980)
''Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns.''
New York: Columbia University Press. ;

; additional sources used to compile English translated names.
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*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry of Popular Affairs
Government of feudal Japan
Meiji Restoration
Popular Affairs