This article aims at clarifying the existence and social position of lower ranking groups of officials serving the imperial court known as jigekanjin地下官人, by investigating commoners (peasants and townsfolk) who were so appointed. The author begins by describing the organizational characteristics of jigekanjin and their place in the social hierarchy. Each group was led by a liaison officer (furegashira触頭) who would relay orders from the imperial household and take reports and petitions from the group back to the court. Jigekanjin groups themselves sometimes possessed their own lower strata, called gekanjin下官人 and made up of common peasants and townsfolk. The author then conducts an analysis of the inheritance practices and of the function played by gekanjin in imperial household ceremonies. Anyone who desired to become a gekanjin mere had to pay an appointment fee, no screening process concerning social background, etc. being required. The position could be handed down from father to son, but soon became an asset (kabu株) monopolized by guild membership, as early as the mideighteenth century. The roles played by gekanjin in court ceremonies were quite simple and required no training whatsoever. Therefore, they were not able to participate in such specialized tasks as recording keeping and food preparation, but merely contributed to the hustle and bustle of the events. Next, the author turns to the existence of gekanjin in the capital region. While they were definitely upper ranking commoners in social terms, they were not always such in economic status. They possessed two different names: one representing their position in the local community, the other their position in their jigekanjin organizations. They were also allowed to carry swords and lanterns painted with their family insignia, whenever active in the service of the court. They were formed and reproduced as the lowest strata of jigekanjin tied to together in horizontal relationships. Finally, the author looks at the increase in jigekanjin that occurred during the late Tokugawa period. As Takano Toshihiko has argued, the emperor and the court continued to play the role of mediator during the regime of Shogun Ieshige, attempting to add stability to his questionable political leadership capabilities. There was also a movement to revive court ceremonies, prompting jigekanjin to perceive their role in court affairs with greater enthusiasm, resulting in the establishment of the post of gekanjin. This in turn created a competitive spirit among jigekanjin and resulted in more and more gekanjin recruitment.

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In the study of how the Japanese medieval imperial court was actually operated, a concept of "bureaucratic farming" has been offered, and when considering auch an idea, the role played by bureaucratic families (ie 家) becomes very important. In the present paper, the author takes up the Benkan 弁官 and Geki 外記 Bureaus at the time and examines the "medieval family" institution existing among the secretaries (shi 史 and geki) who were responsible for the everyday operations of these two bureaus, focussing on the establishment of families as managerial units and primogeniture succession from fathers to sons, especially the political status corresponding to the establishment of main branches and their exclusive inheritance of family wealth. Section one traces the split that occurred in the head of the Benkan secretaries, the Ozuki 小槻 family, into the Mibu 壬生 and Omiya 大宮 lines in relation to the formation process of the "medieval family." As a result, the author shows that the establishment of these two lines into "ie" was finalized in 1273 after several generations of dividing up the official family genealogy. Section two turns to secretarial head of the Geki Bureau, the Nakahara 中原 family, showing the transformation of an ancient uji 氏 (clan) into a medieval ie. Section three examines changes that gradually occurred from the fourteenth century on in the sixth levels of subordinate bureaucrats working at the two bureaus in response to abovementioned changes in secretarial head families, showing that in contrast to their superiors, who were also active as scholarly (hakase 博士) families, these subordinate government officials became an independent class of job-oriented professionals. The author concludes that it was during the late Kamakura era that a transformation occurred in the staff organization of the Benkan and Geki Bureaus, which formed the nucleus of medieval court day to day operations What remains to be studied, then, is the relationship of actual bureaucratic duties to such organizational changes.

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