There are also three other uji which figure prominently on the stage of Japanese history. They are the Nakotomi, the Imibe, and the Kume. The Nakatomi discharged the functions of religious supplication and divination, standing, for those purposes, between (Naka) the Throne and the deities. The Imibe had charge of everything relating to religious festivals; an office which required that they should abstain (imi suru) from all things unclean. The Kume were descended from Amatsu Kume no Mikoto, and their duties were to act as chamberlains and as guards of the Court.
Finally, there was the Oga-uji, descended from Okuninushi, which makes the eighth of the great uji. From the time of the Emperor Jimmu to that of the Empress Suiko (A.D. 593-628), the nobles who served in ministerial capacities numbered forty and of that total the Mononobe furnished sixteen; the Otomo, six; the o-omi houses (i.e. the Kwobetsu), nine; the Imibe, one; the Nakatomi, six; and the Oga, two. Thus, the military uji of Mononobe and Otomo gave to the State twenty-two ministers out of forty during a space of some twelve centuries.
ENGRAVING: PROFESSIONAL STORY-TELLER
ENGRAVING: SHIGURETEI AND KASA-NO-CHAYA IN THE KODAIJI (Examples of
Ancient Tea Houses)
CHAPTER XIV
FROM THE 29TH TO THE 35TH SOVEREIGN
The 29th Sovereign, Kimmei A.D. 540-571
" 30th " Bidatsu " 572-585
" 31st " Yomei " 586-587
" 32nd " Sushun " 588-592