The Structure of the Shosho-Betto System in the Heian Period

Abstract

What is discussed in this essay is the structure of the Shosho-Betto 所々別当 system which functioned during the Heian Period. In the function of the Shosho-Betto, the following three elements can be enumerated. First, they appointed, under the Emperor, the staff of the Shosho 所々, which means they themselves organized the Shosho system. Secondly, they assumed ultimate responsibility for the Emperor in the management of the service records of the staffs they appointed. Lastly, they supervised the work of the Shosho, without becoming involved in the usual management which was to be done in the Shosho offices, but representing the offices in outside world, for instance before the Emperor, various departments and the provincial authorities. In this regard, the Shosho-Betto were distinct from the department heads 諸司長官 under Ritsuryo Law. On this point of super vision duties, the Shosho-Betto appear to bear a resemblance to the Emperor himself during the period. Tenjojisin 殿上侍臣, the Emperor's entourage, and the konoe-Jisho 近衛次将, the vice-ministers of the Imperial Guard, which attended near by the Emperor, were appointed to Shosho-Betto during the first half of the 9th century. This means that the Shosho were controlled until that period by the Emperor and those linked to him by blood or by personal trust. That is to say, the Shosho, the patrimonial machinery of the Emperor, were controlled by the upper circle of the Court with the Emperor in the centre. However the Kurodo 蔵人, the secretary to the Emperor, came to be appointed to new Shosho-Betto posts, which were instituted from the second half of the 9th century. Here we see a remarkable change in the worth of the Shosho. In other words, there developed a new phase of the Shosho-Betto; the Emperor began to manage the Shosho directly through the Kurodo, while the united upper circle of the Court were relieved of the duty. This means that there developed a notion that the patrimonial machinery of the Emperor should be controlled by he himself. It is said the Emperor became one of the political elites of the period Kenmon 権門, expanding his personal patrimony during the latter half of the Heian Period. Taking our discussion into consideration, the starting point for this tendency can be ascribed to the latter half of the 9th century, during which time the Emperor's personal patrimonial machinery came into being.