From Asomi to Ason

[Ross Bender]

This is a technical question about the transition from the pronunciation 'Asomi' to 'Ason' for the kanji  朝臣.

In Nihongi (Nihon Shoki) in the passage on the Yakusa no Kabane Bentley's translation renders it as 'Asomi' :

"We herewith reform the noble title system of the various titled lineages, establishing a new system of eight noble titles to systematize the myriad noble titles throughout the realm. The first title is Mahito, the second Asomi, the third Sukune, the fourth Imiki, the fifth Michinoshi, the sixth Omi, the seventh Muraji, and the eighth Inaki." (Tenmu 13.10.1; Bentley, tr. Nihon Shoki, pp. 684-5)

In Aston's version he gives the pronunciation 'Ason' with an interesting footnote saying "I suspect this is the Corean title  朝 [and an unintelligible second character.] "

In Japanese  versions of Shoku Nihongi the reading 'Asomi' is used, but apparently the transition happened at some point perhaps in the ninth century with the nasalization. But I can find no evidence of when precisely this happened. Any help would be appreciated.

Ross Bender

The Japanese Imperial Institution in the Eighth Century: Bender, Dr Ross: 9798249752026: Amazon.com: Books

A

[William Bodiford]

Dear Ross and everyone:

The unintelligible word in Aston, is:  ason 阿飡.

Evidently, it is a court title once used in Silla.

Cheers,
William Bodiford

On 2026-03-16 3:18 PM, Ross Bender wrote:
> This is a technical question about the transition from the
> pronunciation 'Asomi' to 'Ason' for the kanji 朝臣.
>
>

> In /Nihongi (Nihon Shoki) /in the passage on the /Yakusa no Kabane
> /Bentley's translation renders it as 'Asomi' :
>
> *"We herewith reform the noble title system of the various titled

> lineages, establishing a new system of eight noble titles to
> systematize the myriad noble titles throughout the realm. The first
> title is Mahito, the second Asomi, the third Sukune, the fourth Imiki,
> the fifth Michinoshi, the sixth Omi, the seventh Muraji, and the

> eighth Inaki." (Tenmu 13.10.1; Bentley, tr./Nihon Shoki/, pp. 684-5)*

>
> In Aston's version he gives the pronunciation 'Ason' with an
> interesting footnote saying "I suspect this is the Corean title 朝 [and
> an unintelligible second character.] "
>

> In Japanese  versions of /Shoku Nihongi /the reading 'Asomi' is

> used, but apparently the transition happened at some point perhaps in
> the ninth century with the nasalization. But I can find no evidence of
> when precisely this happened. Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Ross Bender
> The Japanese Imperial Institution in the Eighth Century: Bender, Dr
> Ross: 9798249752026: Amazon.com: Books

> <https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Imperial-Institution-Eighth-Century/dp/B0GQ4FJZKV?crid=2ZNWF8UOJAE7E&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ZRIioMgdrtbg-J0tzytqcdEkJ7-MOQuP6eVbWlCEAqb6C9P6DPcIpoWBDWcetj-EtrzXEvHmUZkck6pre0IaI5_AIyqkNoL8DMfl6ts1nd9l3rxRRS7XM1UYzvOQe8q1JJO8W8S7KOkK2xoF6N-dOk4zzSovR8N3Mm-KBI00ll5SObNoGYxHcT0XsiHtQzV7h3ZkMKij_8kPpQM8yzNVKw5QvEKz2akjBK56O59eeew.Im_GGLjhaPdmwzDfAQ5piEfvIlgyvZ9W2w_Km1G12rE&dib_tag=se&keywords=ross+bender+the+japanese+imperial+institution&qid=1773699251&s=books&sprefix=ross+bender+the+japanese+imperial+institution%2Cstripbooks%2C209&sr=1-2>
>
> A
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--

William M. Bodiford
UCLA Asian Lang & Cultures
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Professor Emeritus
https://www.alc.ucla.edu/person/william-m-bodiford/

[Ross Bender]

Dear William,

Thank you very much! The kanji was smudged in my copy of Aston. Yes indeed   阿飡 (A-chan) was a the sixth rank in the 'bone rank' hierarchy of Silla. There was a hierarchy of  seventeen "bone ranks", which apparently influenced the Japanese system of ranks, although I still don't understand what the direct connection was or how the two systems interacted..

From Sources of Korean Tradition (Vol.1) (ed. Peter Lee and Wm. Theodore deBary, Columbia U Press, 1997), 26-27:

"This rigid system of stratification appears to have taken its final form in the early sixth century, probably as a means of distinguishing the royal line while also protecting the aristocratic status and privileges of the various tribal leaders who were being incorporated into a centralized sociopolitical system. The bone rank system set the two top strata, the Holy Bones and the True Bones, far above the rest of society."

Here is a link to a pdf from a Columbia course which I discovered online.

silla_bone_rank.pdf

I'm still puzzled by the translation of "bone" for the kanji 飡 which seems to have only meant "food" in classical Chinese.

In my essay "Imperial Assumptions: Japan's Relations with Silla and Balhae in the Eighth Century" in my Imperial Rule: Essays on Ancient Japan I have the following table of the ranks of Silla envoys who visited Japan:

TABLE 1: SILLA ENVOYS TO JAPAN[1]

Rank Numbers in the Silla Seventeen Rank System[2]

Hanachan - 韓阿飡 – 5

Ilgilchan 一吉飡 - 7

Salchan 薩飡 – 8

 Keupchan 級飡 – 9

Hannama韓奈麻 – 10

Nama 奈麻 -11

---

[1] Compare table in Suzuki Yasutami 鈴木靖民, “Hasseiki no Nihon to Shiragi no Bunka Kōryū 八世紀 の日本 と新羅 の文化交流,” in Kyoichi Arimitsu 有光教一et. al., Kodai no Shiragi to Nihon 古代の新羅と日本 (Tokyo: Gakuseisha, 1990).

[2] From Table 4:1 in Ha Il Sik, “Dynastic Crisis and the Ruling Strata in Silla in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries: Political Administration and Bureaucracy,” in Richard D. McBride II, ed. State and Society in Middle and Late Silla, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 145-6.

Ross Bender

Amazon.com: IMPERIAL RULE: ESSAYS ON ANCIENT JAPAN eBook : BENDER, ROSS: Kindle Store

[Maribeth Graybill]

Very roughly, "bones" in Silla referred to one's royal pedigree, on both matrilineal and patrilineal sides. The more direct the descent from ruling kings or queens, the higher the rank, with "sacred bones" in the highest rank. In theory, sacred bones were not supposed to marry outside their rank, but inevitably their number declined, so the system loosened up a bit over time. 

Interestingly, the founding king of Goryeo took 29 wives & concubines as a way to secure alliances with powerful regional clans and nobility from Silla and Later Baekje (former enemies) and Balhae (an ally). He reputedly had some 32 children, which resulted in a bloody competition among his sons for the throne. His eventual successor, his fourth son and the fourth king, Wang So, was so opposed to both the sharing of power and the fratricide of his own generation that he took only one wife, his half-sister, and they had only one child, a boy. 

Maribeth Graybill

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[Huisu Yun]

The Silla rank ach'an 阿湌 was the sixth of the seventeen ranks of officials (十七等), which is different from the bone-and-head system (骨品), often referred to as "bone ranks" in English. The bone-and-head system was a system of hereditary social castes, stratified into two "bone" castes (which consist only of the royal family) and at least three "head" castes. The "head" castes were numbered six, five, and four (from highest to lowest), which is often thought as implying the existence of three more "head" castes beneath the fourth "head" caste, bringing the total number of castes to eight. The relationship between the ranks of officials and the bone-and-head system was that there was a minimum caste requirement for each rank; for example, to be an ach'an, one had to be from a family of the sixth "head" caste (六頭品), the highest of the "head" castes, or higher. The minimum requirement to be an official of any rank was the fourth "head" caste (四頭品), which is perhaps why the third, the second, and the first "head" castes do not appear at all in historical records.

According to the Kāngxī dictionary, the character 飡 has three readings 七安切 (= 餐), 昨干切 (= 殘), and 蘇昆切 (= 孫) in Chinese. The Silla rank ach'an was also written 阿粲 ("阿湌 或云阿尺干 或云阿粲", Samguk Sagi [Records of the Three Kingdoms] volume 38), which suggests that 湌 had the first (七安切) of the three possible readings in the word a'chan. This does not agree with the Sino-Japanese reading son, which reflects the third reading (蘇昆切). The word 朝臣 ason < asomi < *asömî = asa 'morning' (calque of Chinese 朝 'imperial court', 'dynasty'?) + ömî 'official' has a transparent Japanese-internal etymology, so it can't be related to the Silla rank of ach'an anyway. I think it is nothing but a chance resemblance.

-- 
Huisu Yun (ko: 윤희수 yun hŭisu, ja: 尹 熙洙 yun hisu)
PhD candidate, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)

2026年3月20日(金) 10:18 Ross Bender <rosslyn...@gmail.com>:

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