Kōke
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A kōke (高家, "high families"
Perhaps the most famous Master of Ceremonies in history was Kira Yoshinaka aka Kira Kōzuke-no-suke (吉良上野介),[1] the real-life model of the villain avenged in the tale of the forty-seven rōnin of Akō.
Overview
The office of kōke is typically translated "Master of Ceremonies"[2] or "Master of Court Ceremony".[3][4]
The men who kōke position performed such roles as that of the courier carrying the
The office was instituted in 1608,[5] when the Tokugawa shogunate selected certain ancient great dispossessed families[5] to fill the hereditary office.[4] Most of these families claimed descent from shugo (governors) of the Kamakura period to Sengoku period, among them the Takeda, the Imagawa, the Kyōgoku, the Rokkaku, the Ōtomo, the Toki, the Isshiki and the Hatakeyama (a full list is given below). Some families were less prestigious, like the Yokose, the Yura, the Ōsawa, and the Kira. By the end of the shogunate in the mid-19th century, the occupancy of the office numbered 26.[5] Some families had several branches among the kōke, like the Takeda who had two lateral branches with that title.
The kōke families had land income assessed at less than ten thousand
Below the kōke, about 10 families bore the title of omote-kōke (表高家).[5] Actually, those who were already serving office were called oku-kōke (奥高家) as opposed to the omote-kōke who were either unappointed or on standby[8] (including minors still not old enough). Although the omote-kōke who has not been appointed were not given any courtly ranks, the appointed oku-kōke was promoted Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade (従五位下, jugoi no ge) or higher,[9] which was necessitated in order to grant them privileges to attend the Emperor's Court.
List
See also
- Master of Ceremonies (Japan)
Explanatory notes
Citations
- ^ a b Turnbull 2011, p. 18
- OCLC 48943301.
- ISBN 9780521223553.
- ^ ISBN 9780816074853.
- ^ ISBN 9781136565151.
- ^ Yazaki, Takeo (1968). Social change and the city in Japan: from earliest times through the Industrial Revolution (Revised ed.) (snippet). San Francisco: Japan Publications. p. 201.
The men from distinguished families (koke) were given special treatment by the bakufu, ranking between the daimyo and hatamoto.
- ^ [books.google.co.jp/books?id=OT0OAAAAIAAJ Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan (1937)] quote: Among the " hatamoto," there were certain retainers accorded special treatment by the Shogun owing to their high rank, who were known as the " koke " and " kotai-yoriai."
- ISBN 9784642066648.)
このうち十数家が奥高家という役職につき、残りの非役.待命組を表高家と
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ 深谷博治, 博治 (Fukaya, Hiroharu [in Japanese] (1973). 華士族秩禄処分の研究 (Kashizoku chitsuroku shobun no kenkyū) (snippet). 吉川弘文館.
表高家は叙位任官せず、奥高家を拝するときまず従五位下に叙し、侍従に任じ、最高位官は正四位上,少将であった。者.非職者の別があり、前者は単に高家と称され、または奥高家とよばれ、
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
References
- ISBN 9781849088640.