Uji (clan)

This is about the early Japanese kin group. For

other uses, see Uji (disambiguation).
In this Japanese name, the family name is Uji.
Uji () are Japanese kin groups of the Kofun period.
*
[1]
Uji were similar to the traditional Japanese clans;
*
[2]
however, the pre-Taika uji did not have many of the char-
acteristics which are commonly understood to be part of
Japanese clans.
*
[3] For example, the Nakatomi clan and
the Fujiwara clan were each uji.
*
[4]
The uji was not only a social, economic and political
unit. It also had religious signicance in the 5th-7th
centuries.
*
[5] The chief family has the title of Uji no
kami.
*
[4]
1 History
The Uji formed a decentralized ruling structure.
According to Chinese records, the clans divided in ris-
ing urban centers occupied the Yamato Plains (region
between the present-day cities o Nara and Osaka). The
clans were responsible for the protection and the taxa-
tion of these independent territories. Each clan was ruled
by a headman or warlord and worshiped its own unique
Ujigami or clan spirit. The most thorough ancient de-
scription of the Uji clan system comes from early Chi-
nese records during the Kofun or Tomb period ( 300-552
CE) .
*
[6]
As pointed out in the History of Wei, the peace was pre-
served among the Wa people as long as a queen, who was
a member of the powerful Yamato clan, played the role of
mediator between the various clans. Since pre-classical
Japan lacked a centralized government, an ocial lan-
guage and a written body of laws, the Shinto religious
beliefs determined the hereditary lineage of the Uji mem-
bers.
*
[7]
The powerful Yamato uji created the Japanese imperial
clan line and its leader during the late sixth and early
seventh century, Prince Shotoku, created the Seventeen
Article Constitution in 604 CE. This constitution did not
constitute an ocial legal text but it was an attempt to
create a bureaucracy to undercut the political domination
of the great clans.
*
[8]
2 References
[1] Uji clans, titles and the organization of production
and tradeat HeritageofJapan.wordpress.com; retrieved
2013-5-12.
[2] Nussbaum, Louis-Frdric. (2005). Ujiin Japan En-
cyclopedia, p. 1010.
[3] Hall, John Whitney. (1988). The Cambridge history of
Japan, Vol. II, p. 128.
[4] Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). Dictionnaire
dhistoire et de gographie du Japon; Papinot, (2003).
Ryzji,Nobiliare du Japon, p. 67 [PDF 71 of 80)];
retrieved 2013-5-12.
[5] Kitagawa, Joseph Mitsuo. (1987). On understanding
Japanese religion, p. 37.
[6] Lu, David. (1997). Japan: A Documentary History The
Dawn of History to the Late Tokugawa Period, p. 9.
[7] From the Wei zhi, as reproduced in the original Chinese
text, Shinwa kara Rekishi e (From Myths to History):
Chuo Koronsha, Nihon no Rekishi ( A history of Japan),
Vol. 1 (1965), pp. 214-220.
[8] Nikon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan) in Kokushi Taikei (Ma-
jor compilation of National History), new and enlarged,
Vol. 1, No. 2 (1967), pp 142-146.
1
2 3 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES
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