was the name of an ancient

title of nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

in the ''

kabane were Japanese hereditary noble titles. Their use traces back to ancient times when they began to be used as titles signifying a family's political and social status. History At first, the ''kabane'' were administered by individual clans, but ...

'' system of

Yamato period The is the period of Japanese history when the Imperial court ruled from modern-day Nara Prefecture, then known as Yamato Province. While conventionally assigned to the period 250–710, including both the Kofun period (–538) and the Asuka ...

Japan from the 4th through 6th century AD, before the introduction of the ''

Ritsuryō is the historical Japanese legal system, legal system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Chinese Legalism in Feudal Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (). ''Kya ...

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

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, 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 and are ...

'' 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 th ...

. 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