The ritsuryo ̄ statepresaged the medieval world (as had once been supposed) the polity actually become more central-
ized than ever before during the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries.^54
Evaluating the ritsuryo ̄ state
Following this brief survey of the trajectory of research on the ritsuryō state, we need to ask what
significance the nature of that policy had for the history of the Japanese archipelago. Archeologi-
cal excavation of the sites of the imperial palaces at Naniwa, Heijō (Nara), and Kyoto; the Daiza-
ifu; the Taga Stockade; and provincial and district government compounds across the country
has advanced steadily, yielding a huge volume of official records on wooden tablets (mokkan).
Analysis of these, in combination with study of the Shōsōin document collection, which consist
of documents discarded by the Tōdaiji Construction Office (zōtōdaiji-shi) and the Sutra Scripto-
rium (shakyōsho), has clarified the role played by written documents in the administration of the
ritsuryō state. Excavations of the remains of ancient highways and the checkerboard- like field
divisions known as jōri have also progressed. The information thus obtained makes it impossible
to sustain the once- popular notion that the ritsuryō system extended no further than the surface
of classical Japanese society. At the same time, it is equally clear that the pre- Taika logic of ritual
submission by local notables to the Yamato king deeply colored the ritsuryō polity as well. In this
regard, it is only a mild exaggeration to characterize the Japanese ritsuryō state—at least in terms
of relations of power and status—as a reexpression of the Yamato polity in the vocabulary of
Tang Chinese administrative law, which was based on the principle of state control over
individuals.
In contrast to the absolute authority of the Chinese emperor, underlain by the Mandate of
Heaven, the Japanese sovereign’s legitimacy derived from his religious guarantee of agricultural
production effected through anticipatory celebrations and harvest rituals. By the seventh century at
the latest, the king was accepted by local magnates of the Kinai region (the political center of the
country) as a special charismatic figure who bestowed surnames and titles upon them.^55 For a time,
the importation of the Sui- Tang ritsuryō system put the Japanese sovereign at the head of an imper-
ium resembling that of his Chinese counterpart; but during the long medieval epoch of warrior rule
that followed the collapse of the classical polity, the only powers that remained in imperial hands
were the putative authority to award ranks and posts (which had by then become mere indicators
of status), and the authority to sponsor agricultural and other rites and Buddhist ceremonies. And
yet, it must be said that above and beyond the level of particular institutions, the introduction of the
ritsuryō polity left a profound impression on the history of the Japanese archipelago.
First and foremost in this regard, one can cite the posting throughout the country of officials
possessing literary and mathematical skills to buttress the structure of rule—a role they and their
successors continued to play over the long term in Japanese history. The existence of these indi-
viduals versed in ritsuryō-like adminsitrative procedures is proof that while styles of documenta-
tion evolved, and tax collection gave way to the shōen system, the ability to write and to calculate
remained the essential tools of administration.
Second, the multilayered hierarchical division of regions and jurisdictions, and the country-
wide standardization of place names established by the ritsuryō system was, essentially, followed
throughout the premodern era. This includes the territorial notion of “Japan” itself.
And third, the ritsuryō system provided a system of succinct, strictly defined legal terminology
that could not possibly have emerged from the hitherto- used Yamato vocabulary. This effect-
ively became the womb of all subsequent legal structure, respected in medieval times by not just
the court but by the successive warrior regimes as well. In the broadest of terms, the ritsuryō
polity can be thought of as having brought civilization to Japanese society.^56