Kuge

The kuge (公家) was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto until the rise of the Shogunate in the 12th century at which point it was eclipsed by the daimyo. The kuge still provided a weak court around the Emperor.

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The word means literally "public house" or "public family" and originally described the Emperor and his court. The meaning of the word changed over time to designate bureaucrats at the court. Later, in the Kamakura period, kuge became an antonym to buke (warriors' house), that is, samurai who swore loyalty to the Shogunate. At this point, kuge began to be used to describe those who worked in the Court; both aristocratic noblemen and commoners.

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Two classes formed the kuge: the dojo (堂上) noblemen who sat on the floor with the Emperor and the jige (地下) who where unable to sit with the Emperor. Although kuge included those two classes, mainly this word described the Dojo, the noblemen.

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The highest offices at the court were called Kugyo (公卿) and eligibility was limited to members of dojo kuge. During Edo period there were about 130 families of dojo kuge. The highest members of the kuge class were known as Sessho or Kanpaku, acting as imperial regents; this was restricted to members of the Fujiwara family.

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Though they lost the most of their political power, they sustained the court culture and had cultural influence. In particular after the Sengoku period they lost most of their financial basis and couldn't be financial patrons of the culture anymore. But they instructed their knowledge as master of particular fields like creating waka, playing instruments like biwa and had disciples among daimyo and sometimes rich commoners. As master of a certain field, kuge gave their disciples many of licences which assured that disciples learned already so-and-so and allowed them to do practice in public or sometimes to teach others. Disciples should pay their master as application for each issued licence. During Edo period payment of those disciples was an important source of income of the kuge.

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In 1869 during the Meiji restoration the kuge merged with the daimyo to form a single aristocratic group, the kazoku.

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Others associated with the kuge included Buddhist priests, Kyoto cultural patrons, geisha, and actors.

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