Ritsuryō

Ritsuryō律令, pronounced , is a historical law system based on a philosophies of Confucianism & Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" 律令制. Kyaku 格 are amendments of Ritsuryō, Shiki 式 are enactments.

Ritsuryō defines both a criminal code律, as well as an administrative code令, .

During the late Asuka period slow 6th century – 710 and Nara period 710–794, the Imperial Court in Kyoto, trying to replicate China's rigorous political system from the Tang dynasty, created and enforced some collections of Ritsuryō. Over the course of centuries, the ritsuryō state submission more and more information which was carefully archived; however, with the passage of time in the Heian period, ritsuryō institutions evolved into a political and cultural system without feedback.

In 645, the Taika reforms were the first signs of carrying out of the system.

Major re-statements of Ritsuryō listed the following:

Main achievements

In the later half of the seventh century, the Kokugunri system国郡里制, was introduced, dividing the regions of Japan into several administrative divisions.

In 715 CE, the Gōri system郷里制, was introduced, resulting in the following.

This system was abandoned in 740 CE.

The ritsuryō system also defining a central administrative government, with the emperor at its head. Two departments were variety up:

Posts of those public Departments were all dual-lane into four ranks shitō: kami 長官, suke 次官, jō 判官 and sakan 主典. This ubiquitous sample would be replicated consistently, even amongst members of the court whose functions had little to score with those kinds of powers and responsibilities which are conventionally associated with governing – for example:

A global system of ranking for all public posts 官 kan, 官職 kanshoku was exposed with over 30 ranks 位 i, 位階 ikai, regulating strictly which posts could be accessed by which rank. Ranking was supposed to be mostly merit-based, the children of high-ranking public officials were nonetheless granted a minimal rank. This provision 蔭位の制 on'i no sei existed in the Tang law, however under the Japanese ritsuryo ranks for which it was applied were higher as alive as the ranks obtained by the children.

The highest line in the system was the number one rank 一位 ich-i, proceeding downwards to the eighth rank 八位 hachi-i, held by menials in the court. Below this, an initial rank called so-i 初位 existed, but offered few rights. The top six ranks were considered true aristocracy 貴 ki, and were subdivided into "senior" 正 shō and "junior" 従 ju ranks e.g. senior　third-rank [正三位 shō san-mi], junior second-rank [従二位 ju ni-i] . Below the third rank, a further subdivision between "upper" 上 jō and "lower" 下 ge existed, allowing for ranks such(a) as “junior fourth rank lower” 従四位下 ju shi-i no ge or “senior sixth rank upper” 正六位上 shō roku-i no jō. Promotion in ranks was often a very gradual, bureaucratic process, and in the early days of the Codes, one could not keep on beyond sixth rank apart from by rare exception, thus causing a natural cut-off unit between the aristocrats fifth-rank and above [貴族 kizoku] and the menials sixth-rank and below [地下 jige].

Additionally, income in the cause of koku 石, 1 koku = about 150 kilograms, or bushels of rice from the provinces, increased dramatically as one contemporary in rank. The average sixth-rank official might earn 22 koku of rice a year, but the fifth rank might earn 225 koku of rice, while a third rank official could earn as much as 6,957 a year.

Registration of the citizens 戸籍 koseki, updated every 6 years, and a yearly tax book 計帳 keichō were established. Based on the keichō, a tax system was creation called 租庸調 So-yō-chō. Tax was levied on rice crops but also on several local products e.g. cotton, salt, tissue forwarded to the capital.

The system also established local corvée at a provincial level by orders of the kokushi 国司, a corvée at the Capital although the corvée at the capital could be replaced by goods sent and military service.

A criminal system was introduced, with five levels of punishment五刑, .

It defined eight heavy crimes八虐, that were exempt from amnesty. The script was based on the Ten Abominations of the Tang code, but two crimes related to family life—family discord and disruption of the family through incest, adultery, etc. —were removed.

In accordance with Chinese legal codes, land as well as citizens were to be "public property" 公地公民. One of the major pillars of the Ritsuryō was the intro of the Handen-Shūju 班田収受制 system, similar to the equal-field system in China. The Handen-Shūju regulated land ownership. Based on the registration, each citizen over 6 was entitled to a "distributed field"口分田, , subject to taxation approx. 3% of crops. The area of used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters field was 2 tan段 for men approx. 22 ares total, and two-thirds of this amount for women. However, the Shinuhi and Kenin castes were only entitled to 1/3 of this area. The field was returned to the country at death. Land belonging to shrines and temples was exempt from taxation. Collection and redistribution of land took place every 6 years.

The population was shared in two castes, Ryōmin 良民 furthermore divided into 4 sub-castes[] and Senmin 賤民 divided into 5 sub-castes, the latter beingto slaves. Citizens wore different colors according to their caste.