The Rollout of the Ritsuryō Codes as Evidenced in Shoku Nihongi
Ross Bender
Monmu 4.3.15 [April 8, 700] An imperial edict ordered the princes and ministers to read and study the laws. Also, the penal codes were established.
Monmu 4.6.17 [July 7, 700] The imperial prince Osakabe of Pure Rank 9; Fujiwara no Asomi Fuhito of Straightforward Rank 2 [and many others] were ordered to compile and establish the Ritsuryō – laws and penal codes. They were given stipends according to status.
Taihō 1.3.21 [May 3, 701] Tsushima presented gold. Thus the year was changed to Taihō One. Based on the new codes, the names of titles and ranks were newly reformed.
Taihō 1.4.7 [May 19, 701] The Major Controller of the Right Jr 4 Lower Shimotsukeno no Asomi Komaro and three others were sent to explain the new law codes for the first time. Imperial princes, ministers, and the hundred officials were to study them.
Taihō 1.6.1 [July 10, 701] Senior Seven Lower Michi no Kimi Obitona was ordered to explain the law codes for monks and nuns (Sōniryō) at the Daianji.
Taihō 1.6.8 [July 17, 701] Imperial edict: “In all affairs the new law codes are to be relied upon. Officials of the provinces and districts are to store tax rice in accordance with the law. In cases of failure or neglect they will be punished.” On this day messengers were sent to the seven circuits to announce that from now on the new law codes should be enforced and that official funds would be allotted and new seals granted.
Taihō 3.3.16 [April 6, 703] The following order was handed down: According to the new codes, learned scholars are to be recruited in the home and neighboring provinces.
By 706 there is detailed evidence that many of the laws were well known. Just one example:
Keiun 3.2.16 [April 3, 706]
Imperial edict: “According to the codes[1] the allotment of sustenance fiefs for third rank and up has already been established. Fourth rank and lower are receiving stipends and goods according to rank. Further those of fourth rank have received valuable umbrellas while those of fifth rank do not. But those who do and do not should not be together in the class of those receiving stipends due to rank. Therefore fourth rank holders should receive sustenance fiefs.
Further, seven other matters were also settled. 1) According to the codes[2] the high officials’ term in office is limited to six years. For the various others two years are added successively until twelve years are reached. Since for the hundred officials the term is very long, two years should be dispensed with for each and that is the limit.
2) According to the codes,[3] for entry into government there are rules concerning appointment due to father’s service, but these regulations have not yet been clarified. From now on, people are not allowed to enter government due to father’s service, but only by examination or special imperial decree – this is to establish regular rules for appointment.
3) According to the penal codes,[4] those who have been dismissed from service as punishment should be eligible for reassignment after six years. But the civil codes do not yet have regulations for allowing reassignment after punishment. This needs to be clarified.
4) According to the code[5] people in the capital and home provinces pay tax in kind at half the rate that in the other provinces. From now on the tax of cloth should be adjusted and tax in kind paid according to household. The people of the capital and home provinces receive superior treatment because they are different than the other people. The detailed regulations for the tax in kind should be made according to the number of able-bodied men in each household, and the four divisions of household established, according to many and few.
5) According to the code,[6] able bodied men are allowed to pay certain measures of cloth instead of corvee. The poverty of the people should be lightened by halving this number. In the districts of the Kyushu Headquarters all should be exempt from corvee. If labor for public works is insufficient, easy regulations should be made according to circumstances and the regulations made permanent law.
6) According to the code,[7] hulled rice is taken from the households from rank holders down to the common people. This is used to store grain in reserved. But it does not make sense to take grain from the poor people in order to assist other households. From now on, rice will be taken from the middling classes on up and stored in reserve. It will only be used to assist the poor, and not for any other purpose. If officials steal over one peck they will immediately be dismissed from office and punished according to the amount they embezzled.
7) According to the codes,[8] descendants of princes in the fifth generation, although retaining the designation of prince, do not belong to the imperial household. At the present time descendants of princes in the fifth generation, although retaining the designation of prince, do not belong to the imperial household. But when We consider the love for our family, the act of cutting them off is unbearable. Thus from now on princes in the fifth generation will in fact belong to the imperial household, and their successors will all be princes. But for others, only the heir inherits the title, not descendants.
[1] 禄令 - Rokuryō.
[2] 選任令 – Senninryō.
[3] 選任令 – Senninryō.
[4] 名列律 – Myōretsuritsu.
[5] 賦役令 – Fuyakuryō.
[6] 賦役令 – Fuyakuryō.
[7] 賦役令 – Fuyakuryō.
[8] 継嗣令 – Keishiryō.
Nadia Kanagawa
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Ross Bender
Yōrō 1.4.23 (June 6, 717)
Imperial edict: “The appointment of able people to official positions is for the purpose of teaching and guiding the ignorant people. The establishment of laws is to prohibit evil behavior. Recently the people have contravened the laws and, acting wantonly, cut their hair and shaved their temples, then suddenly donned Buddhist priestly clothing. Though they look like Buddhist priests, they have the hearts of evil thieves. From this falseness arises all sorts of villainy. This is the first problem.
“Priests are to dwell quietly in temples, learning the teachings and transmitting the way. According to the codes,[1] those who wish to beg must receive permission from the three monastic authorities,[2] in coordination with the secular authorities. Then they may go out with their begging bowls before noon; apart from this they are not permitted to beg. Recently the ‘little priest’[3] Gyōki and his disciples have thronged the city streets, expounding recklessly on good and evil, gathering and stirring up adherents, burning their fingers and arms in fire as a miraculous demonstration, going from house to house giving instruction to lay people, insistently begging for alms, falsely claiming that this is the holy way, and deceiving the people with lies. This is causing annoyance and disorder among both the religious and secular, controverting the teachings of the Buddha, and offending against the laws for monks and nuns. This is the second problem.
[1] The regulations on begging are from the Sōniryō, the Laws for Monks and Nuns, article 5. See Inoue, p. 217. There is an English translation by Joan Piggott on the University of Southern California website: Sōniryō (The Laws on Monks and Nuns) (squarespace.com)
[2] These are variously defined. See Muller’s DDB. Ujitani lists 上座 (elder or president); 寺主 (temple head); 維那 (rector).
27. Clause on Self-Immolation or Abandoning the Body
Monks and nuns may not perform religious acts such as self-immolation or voluntary death. Violators and those who incited or permitted them shall be punished according to the law.
Regarding Disabilities, here is the passage in the Kōryō:
○07 Article on Disabilities (目盲条)
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One eye blind, both ears deaf, lacking two fingers of a hand, lacking three toes of a foot, lacking the great thumb of hands or feet, or having ulcerous lesions of the head causing hair loss (ringworm or Hansen’s disease),
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久漏 (fistula or chronic discharging disease),
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下重 (inguinal swelling such as hernia or hydrocele),
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大癭 (large goiter) and 大腫 (large elephantiasis of the legs),
—these shall be classed as disabled (残疾).
Those with mental retardation (癡), muteness (唖), dwarfism (侏儒), spinal injury or paralysis, loss of one limb (一支廃) shall be classed as impaired (癈疾).
Those with leprosy (悪疾), epilepsy or insanity, loss of two limbs (二支廃), or total blindness shall be classed as gravely ill (篤疾).
Ross Bender
Amazon.com: IMPERIAL RULE: ESSAYS ON ANCIENT JAPAN eBook : BENDER, ROSS: Kindle Store
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Ross Bender
Maribeth Graybill
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