f Civil Government (Jibu-sho); the Department of Civil
Affairs (Mimbu-sho); the Department of War (Hyobu-sho); the
Department of Justice (Gyobu-sho); the Treasury (Okura-sho), and the
Household Department (Kunai-sho). These departments comprised a
number of bureaux. All officials of high rank had to assemble at the
south gate of the palace in time to enter at sunrise, and they
remained there until some time between 11 A.M. and 1 P.M.

In a province the senior official was the governor, and under him
were heads of districts, aldermen of homesteads (fifty houses),
elders of five households--all the houses being divided into groups
of five for purposes of protection--and market commissioners who
superintended the currency (in kind), commerce, the genuineness of
wares, the justness of weights and measures, the prices of
commodities, and the observance of prohibitions. Since to all
official posts men of merit were appointed without regard to lineage,
the cap-ranks inaugurated by Prince Shotoku were abolished, inasmuch
as they designated personal status by inherited right only, and they
were replaced by new cap-grades, nineteen in all, which were
distinguished partly by their borders, partly by their colours, and
partly by their materials and embroidery. Hair-ornaments were also a
mark of rank. They were cicada-shaped, of gold and silver for the
highest grades, of silver for the medium grades, and of copper for
the low grades. The caps indicated official status without any
reference to hereditary titles.

RATIONALE OF THE NEW SYSTEM

The radical changes outlined above were all effected in the short
space of eight years. If it be asked what motive inspired the
reformers, the obvious answer is that experience, culminating in the
usurpations of the Soga, had fully displayed the abuses incidental to
the old system. Nothing more memorable than this flood of reforms has
left its mark upon Japan's ancient history. During the first thirteen
centuries of the empire's existence--if we accept the traditional
chronology--the family was the basis of the State's organization.
Each unit of the population either was a member of an uji or belonged
to the tomobe of an uji, and each uji was governed by its own omi or
muraji, while all the uji of the Kwobetsu class were under the o-omi
and all those of the Shimbetsu class, under the o-muraji. Finally, it
was through the o-omi and the o-muraji alone that the Emperor
communicated his will. In