kabane

From ministers and generals of the highest class down to petty functionaries, all offices were discharged by uji no Kami, and as the latter had the general name of kabane root of the uji the system was similarly termed.

A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era Dairoku Kikuchi 1886

With regard to the titles conferred by this sovereign in recognition of meritorious services, they were designed to replace the old-time kabane (or sei), in that whereas the kabane had always been hereditary, and was generally associated with an office, the new sei was obtained by special grant, and, though it thereafter became hereditary, it was never an indication of office bearing.

A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era Dairoku Kikuchi 1886

All the rest, however, were permitted to use their old, but now depreciated kabane, and no change was made in the traditional custom of entrusting the management of each uji's affairs to its own Kami.

A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era Dairoku Kikuchi 1886

Caste would not seem to have developed any very rigid structure in Japan; and there were early tendencies to a confusion of the kabane.

Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation Lafcadio Hearn 1877

There was a division also into castes -- kabane or sei.

Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation Lafcadio Hearn 1877

"Although numbers of Japanese cannot state with any certainty from what gods they are descended, all of them have tribal names (kabane) which were originally bestowed by the Mikado, and those who make it their province to study genealogies can tell from a man's ordinary surname who his remotest ancestor must have been.

A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era Dairoku Kikuchi 1886

Japanese cannot state with certainty from what gods they are descended, all of them have tribal names (kabane), which were originally bestowed on them by the Mikados; and those who make it their province to study genealogies can tell from a man's ordinary surname, who his remotest ancestor must have been. "

Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation Lafcadio Hearn 1877