(11). The Danjo-dai, or Office of Censorship, This office had the duty of correcting civil customs and punishing and conduct on the part of officials. In the year 799, Kwammu being then on the throne, a law was enacted for the Danjo-dai. It consisted of eighty-three articles, and it had the effect of greatly augmenting the powers of the office. But in the period 810-829, it was found necessary to organize a special bureau of kebiishi, or executive police, to which the functions of the Danjo-dai subsequently passed, as did also those of the Gyobu-sho in great part. These two boards, eight departments, and one office all had their locations within the palace enclosure, so that the Imperial Court and the Administration were not differentiated.
LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE MACHINERY
For administrative purposes the capital was divided into two sections, the Eastern and the Western, which were controlled by a Left Metropolitan Office and a Right Metropolitan Office, respectively. In Naniwa (Osaka) also, which ranked as a city of special importance, there was an executive office called the Settsu-shoku—Settsu being the name of the province in which the town stood—and in Chikuzen province there was the Dazai-fu (Great Administrative Office), which had charge of foreign relations in addition to being the seat of the governor-generalship of the whole island of Kyushu. In spite of its importance as an administrative post, the Dazai-fu, owing to its distance from the capital, came to be regarded as a place of exile for high officials who had fallen out of Imperial favour.
The empire was divided into provinces (kuni) of four classes—great, superior, medium, and inferior,—and each province was subdivided into districts (kori) of five classes—great, superior, medium, inferior, and small. The term "province" had existed from remote antiquity, but it represented at the outset a comparatively small area, for in the time of the Emperor Keitai (A.D. 507-531), there were 144 kuni. This number was largely reduced in the sequel of surveys and re-adjustments of boundaries during the Daika era (645-650), and after the Daiho reforms (701-704) it stood at fifty-eight, but subsequently, at an uncertain date, it grew to sixty-six and remained permanently thus. The kori (district) of the Daika and Daiho reforms had originally been called agata (literally "arable land"), and had been subdivided into inaki (granary) and mura (village). A miyatsuko had administered the affairs of the kuni, holding the office by hereditary right, and the agata of which there were about 590, a frequently changing total as well as the inaki and the mura had been under officials called nushi. But according to the Daika and Daiho systems, each kuni was placed under a governor (kokushi), chosen on account of competence and appointed for a term of four years; each district (kori) was administered by a cho (chief).
MILITARY INSTITUTIONS
In the capital there were three bodies of guards; namely, the emon-fu (gate guards); the sa-eji-fu and the u-eji-fu (Left and Right watches). There was also the sa-ma-ryo and the u-ma-ryo (cavalry of the Left and of the Right), and the sa-hyogo-ryo and the u-hyogo-ryo (Left and Right Departments of Supply). These divisions into "left" and "right," and the precedence given to the left, were derived from China, but it has to be observed in Japan's case that the metropolis itself was similarly divided into left and right quarters. Outside the capital each province had an army corps (gundan), and one-third of all the able-bodied men (seitei), from the age of twenty to that of sixty, were required to serve with the colours of an army corps for a fixed period each year. From these provincial troops drafts were taken every year for a twelve-month's duty as palace guards (eji) in the metropolis, and others were detached for three-years' service as frontier guards (saki-mori) in the provinces lying along the western sea board.
The army corps differed numerically according to the extent of the province where they had their headquarters, but for each thousand men there were one colonel (taiki) and two lieutenant-colonels (shoki); for every five hundred men, one major (gunki); for every two hundred, one captain (koi); for every one hundred, a lieutenant (ryosui), and for every fifty, a sergeant-major (taisei). As for the privates, they were organized in groups of five (go); ten (kwa), and fifty (tai). Those who could draw a bow and manage a horse were enrolled in the cavalry, the rest being infantry. From each tai two specially robust men were selected as archers, and for each kwa there were six pack-horses. The equipment of a soldier on campaign included a large sword (tachi) and a small sword (katana or sashi-zoe) together with a quiver (yanagui or ebira); but in time of peace these were kept in store, the daily exercises being confined to the use of the spear, the catapult (ishi-yumi) and the bow, and to the practice of horsemanship. When several army corps were massed to the number of ten thousand or more, their staff consisted of a general (shogun), two lieutenant-generals (fuku-shogun), two army-inspectors (gunkan), four secretaries (rokuji), and four sergeants (gunso). If more than one such force took the field, the whole was commanded by a general-in-chief.
APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTION
The law provided that appointment to office and promotion should depend, not upon rank, but upon knowledge and capacity. Youths who had graduated at the university were divided into three categories: namely, those of eminent talent (shusai); those having extensive knowledge of the Chinese classics (meikei), and those advanced in knowledge (shinshi). Official vacancies were filled from these three classes in the order here set down, and promotion subsequently depended on proficiency. But though thus apparently independent of inherited rank, the law was not so liberal in reality. For admission to the portals of the university was barred to all except nobles or the sons and grandsons of literati. Scions of noble families down to the fifth rank had the right of entry, and scions of nobles of the sixth, seventh, and eighth ranks were admitted by nomination.