Kuge

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The kuge (公家) was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto until the rise of the Shogunate in the 12th century at which point it was eclipsed by the daimyo. The kuge still provided a weak court around the Emperor right up until the Meiji Restoration.

The word means literally "public house" or "public family" and originally described the Emperor and his court. The meaning of the word changed over time to designate bureaucrats at the court. Later, in the Kamakura period, kuge became an antonym to buke (warriors' house), that is, samurai who swore loyalty to the Shogunate. At this point, kuge began to be used to describe those who worked in the Court; both aristocratic noblemen and commoners.

Two classes formed the kuge: the dōjō (堂上) noblemen who sat on the floor with the Emperor and the jige (地下) who where unable to sit with the Emperor. Although kuge included those two classes, mainly this word described the Dōjō, the noblemen.

The highest offices at the court were called Kugyō (公卿) and eligibility was limited to members of dōjō kuge. During Edo period there were about 130 families of dōjō kuge. The highest members of the kuge class were known as Sesshō or Kanpaku, acting as imperial regents; this was restricted to members of the Fujiwara family.

Though they lost the most of their political power, they sustained the court culture and maintained a cultural influence. In particular, after the Sengoku period they lost most of their financial basis and were no longer in a position to act as patrons of culture. But they passed on their knowledge as masters of particular fields such as writing waka and playing instruments like the biwa, and had disciples among the daimyo and sometimes rich commoners. As masters of a certain field, kuge gave their disciples many licences certifying that the disciples had learned a certain field and allowed them to do practice in public or sometimes to teach others. Disciples were expected to pay their master a fee for each issued licence. During the Edo period, this was an important source of income for the kuge.

In 1869 during the Meiji restoration the kuge merged with the daimyo to form a single aristocratic group, the kazoku.

Others associated with the kuge included Buddhist priests, Kyoto cultural patrons, geisha, and actors.

[edit] Classification

In the 12th century among dōjō conventional differences were established separating the kuge into groups according to their office at court. These determined the highest office to which they could be appointed. The groups were:

Sekke: could be appointed to Sessho and Kampaku: Highest class of kuge. Only five families belonged to this class, all derived from Fujiwara no Michinaga.
Seigake: could be appointed daijin (minister), including dajō daijin, the highest of the four daijin of the court. They derived from the Fujiwara clan or Minamoto clan, descendants of the emperors.
Daijinke: could be appointed nai daijin, if this office became vacant. In reality, the highest office they could achieve was dainagon.
Urinke: military class; could be appointed dainagon. Rarely to naidaijin.
Meika: civilian class; could be appointed dainagon. Sometimes referred to as Meike.
Hanka: the lowest class among the dōjō, a class created in the late Sengoku period. They could only be appointed to lower ranks than sangi or chūnagon. Sometimes referred to as Hanke.

Most of highest classed kuge belonged to the Fujiwara clan and Minamoto clan. But there were still other clans like the Sugawara clan, the Kiyohara clan and the Oe clan. Most of these lower class kuge were descendants of ancient clans who had lost power in the early Heian period.