:''This is about the early Japanese kin groups. For other uses, see Uji (disambiguation).'' were

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese kin groups of the

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 ...

. ''Uji'' were similar to the traditional Japanese clans; Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Uji"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 1010. however, the pre- Taika ''uji'' did not have many of the characteristics which are commonly understood to be part of Japanese clans. For example, the Nakatomi clan and the

Fujiwara clan The was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...

were each ''uji''. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)
"Ryūzōji", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 67 [PDF 71 of 80)
/nowiki>">DF 71 of 80)">"Ryūzōji", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 67 [PDF 71 of 80)
/nowiki> retrieved 2013-5-12. The ''uji'' was not only a social, economic and political unit. It also had religious significance in the 5th–7th centuries. The family chief has the title of ''Uji no kami'' (氏上) although ''uji no osa'' (氏長), ''uji no chōja'' (氏長者), and ''uji no mune'' (氏宗) were also used depending on the time period. At the beginning of the Heian period ''uji no chōja'' was used most often.

History

The ''Uji'' formed a decentralized ruling structure. According to China">Chinese records, the clans divided in rising urban centers occupied the Yamato Plains (the region between the present-day cities of Nara and Osaka). The clans were responsible for the protection and the taxation of these independent territories. Each clan was ruled by a headman or warlord and worshiped its own unique ''ujigami'' or clan spirit. The most thorough ancient description of the ''uji'' clan system comes from early Chinese records during the

(300–552 CE). As pointed out in the '' History of Wei'', the peace was preserved among the " Wa people" as long as a queen, who was a member of the powerful

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...

clan, played the role of mediator between the various clans. Since pre-classical Japan lacked a centralized government, an official language and a written body of laws, the

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

religious beliefs determined the hereditary lineage of the ''uji'' members. The powerful Yamato clan, the

Imperial Family A royal family is the immediate family of monarch, monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or emperor, empress, and the term papal family describes the family of ...

, consolidated its power during the late sixth and early seventh century,

Prince Shōtoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was the son of Emperor Yōmei and his consort, Princess Anahobe no Hashihito, who was also Yōmei's younger half ...

, created the Seventeen Article Constitution in 604 CE. This constitution did not constitute an official legal text but it was an attempt to create a bureaucracy to undercut the political domination of the great clans.''Nikon Shoki'' (Chronicles of Japan) in ''Kokushi Taikei'' (Major compilation of National History), new and enlarged, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1967), pp 142–146.

References

{{reflist * Kofun period