The highest-ranking official or head of the military (兵部卿,, Hyōbu-kyō) was ordinarily a son or a close relative of the Emperor. This important court officer was responsible for directing all military matters; and after the beginning in the late 12th century, this military man would have been empowered to work with the shogunate on the emperor's behalf.^[3]

The ambit of the Ministry's activities encompasses, for example:

• oversight of the rosters of military officers, including examinations, appointment, ranks, etc.^[4]
• dispatching of troops^[4]
• supervision of arsenals of weapons, guards, fortifications and signal fires^[4]
• maintenance of pastures, military horses, and public and private horses and cattle^[4]
• administration of postal stations^[4]
• control of the manufacture of weapons and weapon-makers^[4]
• oversight of drumming and in flute playing^[4]
• control of public and private means of water transportation^[4]
• regulation of the training of hawks and dogs.^[4]

The ministry was established as part of the Taika Reforms and Ritsuryō laws which were initiated in the Asuka period and formalized during the Heian period. After 702, the Hyōbu-shō replaced the Hyōseikan, which was created in 683.^[5]

In the Edo period, titles associated with the ministry became ceremonial titles.

In the Meiji period, the hyōbu-shō was reorganized into a modern Ministry of War and Ministry of the Navy.

The Asuka-, Nara- and Heian-period Imperial court hierarchy encompassed a ministry dealing with military affairs.^[1]

In the 18th century, the top ritsuryō officials within this ministry structure were:

• Minister or chief official (兵部卿, Hyōbu-kyō), usually a son or a close relative of the Emperor.^[6]
• First assistant to the Minister (兵部大輔, Hyōbu-taifu).^[3]
• Second assistant to the Minister (兵部少輔, Hyōbu-shōfu).^[3]
• Senior staff officer (兵部大丞, Hyōbu-taijō).^[3]
• Junior staff officers (兵部少丞, Hyōbu-shōjō), two positions.^[3]
• Director of dance (隼人正, Hayato no kami), considered a very low rank.^[3]
• First assistant director (隼人佑, Hayato no jō).^[3]
• Alternate assistant director (隼人令史, Hayato no sakan).^[3]

• Daijō-kan
• Imperial Japanese Army (1871–1945)
• Imperial Japanese Navy (1871–1945)
• Japan Self-Defense Forces (1954–)
• Ministry of Defense (Japan)

• Kawakami, Karl Kiyoshi. (1903). The Political Ideas of the Modern Japan. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press. OCLC 466275784. Internet Archive, full text
• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
• Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-04940-5; OCLC 59145842

Further reading edit

• Friday, Karl F. (1992). Hired Swords: the Rise of Private Warrior Power in Early Japan. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-804-71978-0; ISBN 978-0-804-72696-2