Ritsuryo

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Ritsuryō ( Japanese 律令 ritsuryō ) is a historical legal system in Japan, wherein ritsu the criminal and ryō the administrative law says. It was based on the philosophy of Confucianism and Chinese legalism . The political system in accordance with him is called Ritsuryō-sei ( 律令 制 ). Kaku ( 格 ) or Shiki ( 式 ) are attachments to ritsu or ryō .

During the late Asuka period (late 6th century to 710) and the subsequent Nara period (710–794), the Imperial Court attempted to copy the rigorous Chinese political system of the Tang Dynasty . To this end, he created some collections of Ritsuryō and tried to enforce them. The Ritsuryō later became obsolete when the shogunate became the dominant political system and the samurai's code of conduct became authoritative.

Important collections from Ritsuryō were:

Various official commentaries that have been published are used today as the main historical sources, such as Sakutei ritsuryō (completed 769; official commentary 791-812), Ryō no gige (833) and Ryō no shūge (around 877).

State organization

In the legal texts, the organization of the administration of the farm and country was laid down in great detail.

Development of the Ritsuryō bureaucracy

At the top was the "Heavenly Majesty", the Tennō . He was advised by the Daijō-kan , the State Council (or "Grand Chancellery"). The leadership of the State Council (together also as Sankō ) lay with the Grand Chancellor ( Daijōdaijin ), the highest government official and direct advisor to the emperor. There were no suitable candidates available, and especially after the time of Fujiwara no Yoshifusa (804–872) the post was rarely filled. If so, then mostly to military leaders or posthumously on an honorary basis. If the office of daijōdaijin was not occupied, the actual power of government lay with Sadaijin , the ("Chancellor on the left"), also referred to as ichi-no-kami . In third place was the Udaijin ("Chancellor on the right").

The State Council (name for both Chancellors together: Sankō ) was followed by the Dainagon ( 大 納 言 , "Upper Cabinet Council"). Initially, the Taihō Codex provided for four Dainagon, later the number was increased. They stood directly under the sanko and could represent it if necessary.

Each of the four Dainagon (sometimes called gyoshi taifu ) were assigned:

  • a ( Udaiben or Sadaiben ) daiben ( 大 弁 , "Oberstaatsverwaltungsdirektor"),
  • a chūben ( 中 弁 , "Middle State Administration Director "),
  • a shōben ( 少 弁 , "sub-state administrative director") and
  • three shōnagon ( 少 納 言 , "Lower Cabinet Council").

The post of the chūnagon ( 中 納 言 , "Middle Cabinet Council") was created in the late 8th century. There were also unscheduled or provisional ( 権 Gonkan | gon or 員 外 Ingaikan | ingai as a prefix) office holders who went beyond the respective planned posts.

In terms of protocol, there was also the Jingi-kan , dealing with kami - ( i.e. Shinto ) matters. There were eight ministries. The personnel for the higher and highest positions came from families with the appropriate Kabane or imperial blood.

The ministries

  • Nakatsukasa-shō: "Central Ministry," responsible for matters of the Tennō , the palace administration, liaison between the ministry and the State Council and the promulgation of laws, etc.
  • Shikibu-shō (= Nori-no-tsukasa) "Ministry of Ceremonies," was concerned with the "human resources" of the civil court and provincial officials. So vacation, supervision, promotion and dismissal, rewards by means of jifiku ( advances ). Recipient of the annual reports from the provinces that had to be submitted in the 11th month ( chōshūshi ). Furthermore, training and examinations for prospective civil servants.
  • Jibu-shō: ("civil administration for nobles"), was responsible for naming, inheritance / succession arrangements, marriages, funerals etc. of persons of the fifth rank or higher. Registration of cabins and reception of state guests. Furthermore, emperor burials had to be organized, the graves administered and inexpensive omina recorded.
  • Mimbu-shō , the "Ministry of the Interior", actually statistics. Was involved with things like land allocation, censuses, population registers, forced labor and the like. a. deals with statistics concerning the "people". Especially the statistical recording of the infrastructure, tax base, name register of the kenin and nuhi .
  • Hyōbu-shō (= Tsuwamono-no-tsukasa "Ministry of War"), took care of the military administration (i.e. promotions, building forts, mobilization, submission of the Emishi , etc.)
  • Gyōbu-shō , the "Ministry of Justice." At the time of Nara, its function was more of a higher court for criminal matters not to be decided in the provinces (which may have been submitted to the State Council for review in the next instance). Furthermore, prison administration and keeping of registers about legal proceedings between free and unfree. The tokibe acted in a similar way to the rapporteurs at the ECJ . Specially trained “Dr. iur. ”were sent to the provinces to explain the legal code to the administrators there.
  • Ōkura-shō is the "Ministry of Finance" (which was still called this until 2001). At that time only responsible for the collection and storage of taxes in kind and compulsory redemption, tributes from the provinces. The coins minted in the 7th century were accepted for tax payment from 723 onwards. Dimensions and weights (government or private bodies) had to be submitted for calibration purposes in the second month. In contrast to today, there was no central budget planning.
  • Kunai-shō , dealing with general affairs of the imperial household and "inner palace". Partly responsible for the collection and allocation of certain taxes in kind (white rice, fish) if they were needed in the palace. Supervision of the "fields for the imperial table" ( kanden ).

Censors: Danjō-dai. The censors were subordinate to the State Council, but were organized outside the ministries. They had to watch over the "moral purity" in the capital and in the kanai and to report violations upwards. To some extent, they had police and judicial functions. The director first had lower 4th, later lower 3rd court rank, and was thus higher than the ministers in terms of protocol. Usually a prince ( 王 ) or another member of the imperial family held the post. Over time, the tasks were transferred to the police commissioners ( kebiishi ) established at the beginning of the 9th century .

The Kōkyo, subordinate to the State Council, administered the women's palace and was organized similarly to the budget ministry. The palace ( tōgū ) of the designated heir to the throne was organized similarly to the ministry. There were also teachers for the Crown Prince.

Military organization

The five guard quarters ( Go-e-fun ), with stables and armories, were directly subordinate to the State Council . Emon-fu, the gate guards, were recruited from free people from the provinces, and a division, the hayato no tsukasa , consisted of indigenous people from southern Kyushu .

Sa-eshi-fu and U-eshi-fu, the left and right palace guards. Sa-hyōe-fu and U-hyōe-fu, left and right guards, to guard the gates ( kōmon ) to the audience hall; also guarding the emperor while traveling. (400 men, only the sons of court officials of middle rank or gun-shi ). Hidari no uma no tsukasa and Migi no uma no tsukasa left and right stable management. The grooms ( umabe ) came from horse grooming guilds ( umakai-be ) and, as tomo-be, were the personal property of the emperor. Sa-hyōgo and U-hyōgo , the left and right armory. In the eighth century there was still a separate (inner) palace armory ( Uchi no hyōgo ).

Provincial military organization: each province had a brigade under the command of the governor. For the first time, these 645 were set up, also to deprive the local clan chiefs of their military base. Private weapons were to be surrendered in government-owned camps ( hyōgo ).

They were structured as follows (in today's terminology, using the example of a "large brigade" daidan ): Officers: 1 brigade commander ( daigi ), 2 deputies ( shōgi ), 1 registrar / clerk ( shuchō ), 5 regimental commanders ( kōi ), 10th Battalion commanders ( ryōsui ), 20 company commanders ( taishō ). 5 men ( heishi ) formed a gō (troop). Two of these, one hi (train). 5 hi (50 men) a tai (company). 2 companies formed a ryō (battalion), 2 of them a kō (regiment), 5 then a large brigade (the "middle" had 3, a "small" 2 kō ). Companies consisted of both infantry and cavalry and had two archers.

Theoretically, 1/3 of the able-bodied male population was on duty, but the eviction rate was significantly lower. Assignments in (restless) border provinces were usually for 3 years, in the capital (palace guards etc.) for 1 year. From 790 the system was replaced in the border provinces by the kondei militia, which was recruited from the families of the landed gentry.

Organization of the Provinces

The provinces were administered by a governor appointed by the central government ( 國 司 , Kuni no tsukasa , also: 國 上 or 國 行 主 ). The officials who assisted him were recruited from the local landed gentry.

For the left and right halves of the capital Nara (outside the palace), Sa- and U-kyō-shiki, who had to keep registration, monk and tax registers ( keichō ), divide up labor , etc .; they also had a police monitoring function with regard to roads, bridges and military service workers ( heishi ). The markets were controlled by the Higashi or Nishi no ichi no tsukasa .

The (strategically important) areas near the capital around the ports of Naniwa ( 難 破 , today: Ōsaka ) and Hakata (today: Fukuoka ), were administratively under the Settsu- shiki (from 793 Settsu no kuni no tsukasa ) or Dazai-fu a military special administrative zone on the invasive north coast of Kyūshūs (Tsukushi). In addition to the tasks of the capital's Kyōshiki , the directors had to oversee kami ceremonies, promote silk production , look after foreign state guests, administer government warehouses , maintain ports and control post stations ( yūeki-denba ). They also kept a temple registry. The Dazai-fu also had military tasks such as building and manning a fortress. There was also a miyake, which served as board and lodging for foreign guests (of course a register was kept of their arrival and departure).

The remaining provinces kuni were divided into four classes - according to population - (in the name analogous to the four sizes of the districts gun ). The tasks of the provincial governor or governor ( Kuni no tsukasa or kokushi ) and his deputy ( suke ) essentially corresponded to those of Settsu-shiki.

When the Engi-shiki was compiled in the 10th century, there were 68 provinces. About 555 districts ( 郡 ) are known for the 8th century . Before the Taihō Code, districts were commonly called 評 hyō.

  • 國 kuni, were the largest units, comprising 5–7 wards.
  • 大 郡 : “large district / district” 16–20 villages
  • 上郡 : "Upper District" 12–15 villages
  • 中 郡 : "middle district / district" 8–11 villages
  • 下 郡 : "subdistrict" 4–7 villages
  • 小 郡 : "Small circle / district" 2 or 3 villages
  • 里 sato: "village" 50 households (less in remote or mountainous areas)
  • 村 mura: “village”, “hamlet” not defined, but usually 20 houses or less.

Classification of the non-nobles

The common people were essentially divided into the two castes Ryomin ( 良民 ) and Semmin ( 賤民 ).

The Ryomin formed the upper caste and were divided into: Kanjin ( 官人 ), Komin ( 公民 ), Shinabe ( 品 部 ) and Zakko ( 雑 戸 ).

The Semmin were often referred to as goshiki no sen ( 五色 の 賤 ) due to their 5-level structure . They were structured as follows according to their tasks:

  • Ryōko ( 陵 戸 ) were assigned to the imperial family and often guardians of imperial tombs.
  • Kanko ( 官 戸 ) were assigned to the authorities.
  • Kenin ( 家人 ) were servants of the nobility.
  • Furthermore two classes of slaves ( 奴婢 , nuhi ):
    • the Kunuhi ( 公 奴婢 ) were the property of the Tennōs and the
    • Shinuhi ( 私 奴婢 ) were owned by private individuals.

Kunuhi became Kanko when they reached the age limit (66) and became free at 76. Marriage between the individual groups was initially not permitted, but the system was not as strict as India . Initially, mixed race children of the two castes were assigned to the Semmin, after 789 the Ryomin. This structure was used until the 10th century.

Tax burden

It was mainly the adult men of a household who were liable for tax. Exempt from taxes were women, children (up to 16/17), old people (over 65/66), imperial blood relatives (imperial descendants up to the 4th generation), those in the 8th court rank or higher and invalids, those on duty in the military, slaves ( 奴 nuhi). Young men (17–20) were charged ¼ of the usual taxes at times. "Conditionally suitable" at ½. It should be noted that all taxes (in kind) had to be paid at the expense of the taxpayer, which resulted in high costs, especially for the residents of border provinces. Sawada Goichi calculated a tax burden of 28% for a “model household”.

The average size of a household (based on a census in Shimousa 721) was 9 people. Actual size ranged from 3 to 41. Of these, about 2/10 were fully fit, taxable adult males.

Tax types

In the Ritsuryō system there was a so-yō-chō ( 租 庸 調 ) called tax system with the following types of taxes:

  1. Poll tax ( 調 / 貢 , mitsugi or chō (only first character)):
    Was to be paid in textiles. The type and quality were stipulated depending on the province. (As a rule, however, inferior goods were delivered, often with a commercial value of only half of normal goods.)
    Tax classes (according to Dettmer, 1959):
    1. Children under 17, old people, etc .: exempt from tax
    2. Men of the outer provinces: regular full rate
    3. Men in Kannai: half sentence of 1
    4. Instead of delivering materials, households in Hida Province had to provide (and feed) carpenters for use in the capital
    5. Residents of the border provinces had to pay lower rates, which were determined according to local conditions.
    The delivery modalities were precisely defined. Tax exemptions were often granted on the occasion of ascending the throne, changing the nengō , relocating the capital, etc. In addition, after poor harvests, when moving to outlying provinces (for 1–3 years), for re-emerged missing persons (3–5 years), freed slaves (3 Years), foreign returnees (1–3 years), "virtuous" (permanent) and foreigners who could be naturalized (10 years) no taxes were levied.
  2. Compulsory service ( 庸 , chikarashiro or yō ): In
    principle, every taxpayer had to     do compulsory labor ( 役 , edachi ) 60 days per year . However, this was often done with a set of 2 jō 6 shaku cloths; after 706, half of this sentence [≈ 9 tsuka rice] replaced. The modalities corresponded to the poll tax.
    On the other hand, freelancers could also hire themselves out to work (up to 30 days) and received the corresponding wages (but were also fed.)
  3. Mixed taxes (including interest on borrowed rice):
    1. Levies to the state granary. Depending on the size of the household (9 levels): 2 koku - 1 to millet. Adopted after 706 poor.
    2. During the Tempyō era, a monthly ("light") additional tax was levied to cover civil servants' salaries.
    3. Provincial Tribute Gifts. These were not allowed to exceed 1000 tsuka rice per province.
  4. Field tax ( 田 力 / 租 , tachikara or something like that (only the last character)):
    (only on [irrigated] rice fields; however, mulberry trees or hemp cultivation were mandatory for 1.) Payable in rice. In principle, within the framework of the Taika reform, everyone was entitled to an equally large field that was left for use. However, fields were granted for a wide variety of purposes (e.g. service fields for civil servants). Those given to high-ranking people (including temples) were tax-free.
    The tax rate was a uniform 15 tsuka rice per chō (with an expected yield between 150 and 500 tsuka / chō ).
    The tax base (allocation of fields) was based on (population) censuses that take place every 6 years. Allocations were made for all persons in the household over 6 years of age, 2 tan per man , about a third less for women.

Tax evasion and avoidance, for example through false information in registration, bribery, unauthorized building of fields of the deceased, purchase of a (tax-exempt) office, flight or emigration to tax-privileged Kinnai etc. were common. Punishments for this ranged from 60 strokes of the stick to 3 years of forced labor. State countermeasures were the introduction of a registration system, naming and a guarantee system, whereby one person vouched for the taxes of an average of 5 households, but also had a certain disciplinary power.

Overall, this system proved to be no longer practicable in the early Heian period . With the introduction of the Engishiki law (962), the changeover to a property tax system took place.

Punish

The following punishments were common in Nara times:

  • Death penalty: by beheading (dishonorable) or strangling (honorable).
  • Exile: to the provinces (the further from the capital, the more serious; 3 classes).
  • Fron (forced labor): in five temporal stages, starting with ½ year.
  • Corporal punishment (thin or thick stick)

Some emperors renounced the use of the death penalty, in its place of exile. Amnesties were often proclaimed on occasions such as good omina, accession to the throne, etc., and existing penalties were reduced by one level. (In the old Japanese upbringing of children, the passionate punishment of naughty children was strictly frowned upon. Outbursts of anger on the part of the parents towards the children were regarded as an unmistakable sign of gross barbarism.)

In Sōni-ryō (27 Art. I. D. F. 717) are for offenses by monks u. a. the following (significantly milder) penalties are provided:

  • Relocation to lay status, possibly with handover to secular judges, for example for divination, incitement or pretending of enlightenment;
  • 100 days of monastic forced labor ( kushi ; this meant, for example, cleaning the temple forecourt) for incorrectly using a monk's name, unauthorized wandering, unauthorized begging;
  • Violations of general Vinaya regulations, such as entering apartments of the opposite sex, private property, consuming alcohol or meat or sexual intercourse (10 days of monastic labor) were explicitly prohibited, but practically not punished .

The regulations concerning Shinto priests were even more lenient. Consistent persecution does not seem to have taken place, if possible in the provinces, and is seldom verifiable from the beginning of the Heian period.

Holders of at least 8th civil grade or 12th grade had the option of buying themselves free from punishments. The basic amount was 1 kin copper for offenses against private individuals, double the amount against the state, for redemption for every 10 strokes of the stick. However, (detached) penalties were included in the assessments of officials.

literature

  • Dettmer Hans: The tax legislation of the Nara time; Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1959 [zgl. LMU , dissertation, 1959]
  • Dettmer Hans; The charter of Japan from the 8th [eighth] to the 10th [tenth] centuries; Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1972. Vol. 1: The ranks: to the employment relationship d. Clerks
  • Dettmer Hans: Japanese government and administrative officials of the 8th to 10th centuries - compiled from the testimony of Kugyō bunin; Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2000, 2 vols.
  • Josef Kreiner: The cultural organization of the Japanese village. Beaumüller, Vienna 1969 (Archives for Ethnology, 7)
  • Alan Miller: Ritsuryo Japan: The State as Liturgical Community . In: History of Religions . Vol. 11, No. 1 (Aug., 1971), pp. 98-124
  • Richard Miller: Japan's First Bureaucracy . Ithaca 1979, (from this the breakdown of the ministries)
  • Makoto Satō and Eiichi Ishigami: Ritsuryō kokka to Tenpyō bunka . Yoshikawa kōbunkan, Tōkyō 2002, ISBN 4-642-00804-7
  • Yoshikawa Shinji: Study in the Ritsuryo Bureaucracy . In: Journal of Jap. History . 2000

Web links