The Status System of the Heian Aristocracy

Aristocratic Status and Hierarchy

Here, we introduce the nobility divided roughly into three tiers: upper, middle, and lower.

• Upper-tier nobles (jōryū kizoku) held the Third Rank or higher, or held the Fourth Rank while serving as a Councillor (sangi). They were known as kugyō or kandachime. This group included officials such as the Chancellor (daijō-daijin), the Ministers of the Left and Right, the Major and Middle Counselors, the Inner Minister, and Councillors — roughly equivalent to today's cabinet ministers, at the very center of court politics.
• Middle-tier nobles (chūryū kizoku) mainly held the Fourth or Fifth Rank, and were sometimes called tenjōbito. A tenjōbito was someone permitted to enter the Tenjō-no-Ma chamber of the Seiryōden — a privilege that was not determined by rank alone. For example, Chamberlains (kurōdo), who served close to the emperor, were granted this privilege even at the Sixth Rank. This tier formed the senior bureaucratic class that supported the core of the imperial court.
• Lower-tier nobles (karyū kizoku) were those not permitted to enter the Seiryōden, including those holding the Sixth through Eighth Ranks, or the Initial Rank. They were known as jigenin.

Even so, someone at the Sixth Rank could still be appointed as a provincial governor (kokushi). In particular, in lower-graded provinces — those classified as chūgoku or gekoku — a Sixth Rank official could even be appointed to the top post of kami. In this way, a person's actual social standing depended not only on rank, but also on office and posting.

The Pyramid Structure of Court Ranks

Court ranks formed a pyramid structure like the one shown below. From the Fourth Rank down, each rank was divided into senior (shō) and junior (ju) grades, some of which were further split into upper and lower — creating a total of 30 distinct steps.

There was a major difference in treatment at court between the Fifth Rank and above versus the Sixth Rank and below. That said, some Sixth Rank officials still became tenjōbito as Chamberlains, or were appointed provincial governors — so rank alone did not determine one's social standing.