Kugen.
In feudal Japan, the name of the nobility attached to the Imperial Court at Kyoto; a court noble.
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society > society and the community > social class > nobility > [noun] > noble class > in Japan
Kuge1577
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > [adjective] > relating to the nobility > relating to noble person > of noble of Japan
Kuge1957
1577 R. Willes in R. Willes & R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Hist. Trauayle W. & E. Indies f. 255 The heads and beards of his ministers are shauen, they haue name Cangues, and theyr aucthoritie is great.
1727 J. G. Scheuchzer tr. E. Kæmpfer Hist. Japan I. ii. ii. 152 The whole Ecclesiastical Court in general assumes the title of Kuge, which signifies as much as Ecclesiastical Lords, and this they do by way of distinction from the Gege.
1871 A. B. Mitford Tales Old Japan I. 71 The cap and robes worn by the Kugé, or nobles of the Mikado's court.
1877 Trans. Asiatic Soc. Japan 6 i. 23 The Court, Shôgun and Kugé were alike powerless to restore order.
1880 F. V. Dickins tr. Chiushingura (new ed.) 159 They were noble ladies, daughters of Kugé, who were peers of the Mikado's creation.
1904 L. Hearn Japan: Attempt at Interpr. xii. 265 Next to him stood the kugé, or ancient nobility,—descendants of emperors and of gods.
1957 Times Lit. Suppl. II. Oct. 607/2 The court nobles, almost as useless and cut off from real life by the habits of the Court, of ‘ce pays-ci’, as Mme. de Grignan called it, as so many Kuge nobles of old Japan.
1970 J. W. Hall Japan x. 179 Tokugawa society..was conceived of..as falling into the following categories: the kuge, the samurai (including daimyo), priests, peasants, urban residents, and pariah (hinin and eta).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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