--- Tom Hatfield <
oneundeadlord@...> wrote:
> okay im totaly confused with all these rainks, i
> only know 4 rainks (emperor, shogun, daimyo, and
> taisho) so if someone could help me out in what they
> all meani would be greatly apreaciative
Tom:
None of those things you mentioned are actually
"ranks". I know it's confusing, but I'll try to help.
Emperor isn't a rank--you don't get "promoted" to it.
It's a JOB, really. A hereditary one.
Shogun, also, isn't a rank--not in the sense of a
court rank, which is what was being discussed. Kampaku
also isn't a "rank", it's a job. Ieyasu didn't
necessarily "outrank" Hideyoshi because he made it to
Shogun and Hideyoshi was Kampaku--the two are
essentially seperate entitites, with little or no
ties.
Daimyo, again, is a description of someone's military,
economic, and political status, but not necessarily a
"rank". A daimyo was a daimyo was a daimyo, whether
you held 15,000 koku in Sado, or 3 million koku in the
Kanto--you were still a daimyo. What mattered was your
income and military strength.
Taisho, again, is translated as general, but not in
the "Brigadier General, Major General, etc." sense. It
means someone who led a large group of soldiers into
battle. If you led 1,000 or 15,000, you were a taisho
either way. It describes someone who led the
troops--in other words, like the rest, a job.
Ranks, as we mean with "lower second rank", were ranks
according to the imperial ranking system devised in
the Heian period. I'm by no means an expert--actually,
I know very little. However, there were various
gradations of rank, and each gradation was further
subdivided into lower, middle, and upper. So you could
be of "Lower 5th rank", but that was more impressive
than someone of "Upper 7th rank".
Tony's website, www.sengokudaimyo.com/miscellany
has a pretty good explanation on this, much better
than I could do.
Hope that helps.
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