Table 3: The Kugyō (Court Nobles) I

¶The Heavenly Ancestor handed down his revered teaching, and the flourishing of the imperial throne is without limit, together with heaven and earth, because the Sovereign has held the great authority in his own hands and has never yet delegated it to his subjects. Had the offices that administer government been gathered entirely into the hands of a minister, and the Sovereign merely looked on and waited for the results, how could the throne have flourished? For this reason the sage emperors of high antiquity, generation after generation, themselves always held the great principles in their grasp, and ruled the realm with daily diligence and without slackening. In appointing men to the tasks of government, they mingled princes of the blood with aged and virtuous old retainers, set them to check one another, and never relied wholly on any single man. This is how the great authority lay with the Sovereign above, how the bonds of order were drawn tight, how ranks and precedence were made clear, and how moral instruction reached the people below. From the time Fujiwara-no-Kamatari put to death the great villain, performed mighty services, and assisted the government of the Restoration, his descendants and kinsmen gradually increased in power. When Fujiwara-no-Fuhito drew up the legal codes (Ritsuryō), he consulted the institutions of the Tang and placed the Daijō-daijin (Chancellor) above the Sadaijin and Udaijin (Ministers of the Left and Right), so that this one man might assist in the ten thousand affairs of state. In effect, what are called the Shōsho (Secretariat) and the Mon'ka (Chancellery) were brought together into a single office. The Nakatsukasashō (Ministry of Central Affairs), for its part, was reduced to being one of the Eight Ministries, and none dared oppose this; the post was truly weighty. Yet in the age of Emperor Tenji the Crown Prince (Prince Naka-no-Ōe) held it, and thereafter an imperial prince always occupied the position, but he was called only Chikanji (Supervisor of Affairs), and the post had not yet been established as a regular office. With Fujiwara-no-Yoshifusa, a subject for the first time was appointed to the post, and for the first time it was established as an office held by a single full-time incumbent. The government of the realm then passed wholly into his hands. From that time his descendants continually remained in positions of heavy responsibility. When an infant sovereign was on the throne they were called Sesshō (Regent); when the sovereign was of age they were called Kanpaku (Chief Advisor), or were styled Nairan (Inspector of Documents). The Sovereign folded his hands and left matters to what they did, and the power of the minister grew ever greater. Thereafter the men of that house invariably took their places among the Kugyō (court nobles), and its women invariably became empresses and consorts. Almost without exception, those who held key posts and decided the pivotal matters of government were sons or younger kinsmen of that one house. Moreover, they raised up flatterers and sycophants to serve their private gain, and allied themselves with fierce and daring warriors to support their strength; their wealth rivaled that of the imperial house and their power equaled that of the Sovereign; truly it may be called a time of prosperity. As this went on for a long time, the men of that family all became sons of wealthy houses, accustomed to license and arrogance; though they themselves held weighty office, they did not know what the art of government might be. It was therefore only natural that, when events came upon them, they were thrown into confusion and disorder. At this point there appeared men descended from the imperial line who had taken their places among the military retainers, such as Taira-no-Kiyomori and Minamoto-no-Yoritomo; each summoned together old acquaintances and welcomed heroes, and in their stead seized that position. In the end the great authority fell to the ground, and the Court was left holding an empty vessel. The flourishing of the throne could no longer even be asked about; but on whom, then, should the blame finally be laid? This is something that must be deeply pondered. From the Middle Ages onward, the Daijō-daijin together with the Sadaijin and Udaijin were called the Sankō (Three Ducal Ministers). Together with the Naidaijin (Inner Minister), the Jundaijin (Associate Minister), and all from the Dainagon (Major Counselor) and Sangi (Consultant) upward, they were called the Kugyō. The other important offices were mostly held concurrently by these men. Posts such as the Tōgū-fu (Tutor to the Crown Prince; head of the Crown Prince's Household), the Konoe-taishō (Commanders of the Inner Guards), and the heads of the Eight Ministries must likewise be recorded together. Now, relying on the Kugyō Bunin and consulting the various histories, I set out their surnames and personal names by year and month, so that a person may grasp them at a glance and thereby discern the origins of order and disorder, rise and fall; thus the gain and loss of the great authority and the laxity or urgency of the court's government may also be seen in outline. Furthermore, from the time that warriors monopolized government, the governance of land and of troops and horses was wholly entrusted to the hands of vassals' vassals. Those called Shikken (Regent of the Shogunate) and Rensho (Co-signer) differed hardly at all from the Kugyō of earlier times. The high officials of the Court, for their part, had names only and no real power, and it might seem that they were no longer worth listing. Yet the conferral of offices and ranks still came from the Court, and the weighty post of Taishōgun (Great General; Shōgun) was at times ranked beneath the ministers; hence their dismissals and appointments cannot be left unrecorded. I therefore compile this Table of the Kugyō.

¶(Note: The table that follows in the original, listing the holders of the senior court offices year by year, is not translated here. It is available in the Japanese edition.)