Benkan -

One of the cores of the Ritsuryo government system. Called the "Otomoi no Tsukasa," it was a secretariat directly under the Daijokan, and was the executive body responsible for accepting reports from lower-level agencies, submitting them to the Daijokan, and issuing documents such as Daijokanfu, which were orders from the Daijokan. There were two offices: the Left Office and the Right Office, the former of which had jurisdiction over the four ministries of Nakatsukasa, Shikibu, Jibu, and Minbu, and the latter of which had jurisdiction over the four ministries of Hyobu, Gyobu, Okura, and Kunai. The chiefs, the Left and Right Offices, were equivalent to Junior Fourth Rank Upper and were the second highest ranking officials after the lords of the eight ministries.

Its origins date back to the Daibenkan (Great Benkan) of the reign of Emperor Tenmu, but it seems that there was a complicated process before it was established in the Taiho Code. As it was the central office in the administration of documents under the Ritsuryo Code, when the Kurodo-dokoro (Court Office) was established in the Heian period, one of the To (chiefs) was a Benkan (Tounoben), and the head of the Shi/Fumihito (History) who drafted documents was valued as a practical bureaucrat, and the position was hereditary in the Ozuki clan (Mibu clan).

[Muneyoshi Sato]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

律令(りつりょう)官制の中枢の一つ。「おおともいのつかさ」といい、太政(だいじょう)官に直属した事務局で、下級機関からの上申文書の受理および太政官への申達(しんたつ)や、太政官符など太政官からの命令の下達(げたつ)の文書の発給事務を統轄した行政事務の執行機関。左弁官・右弁官があり、前者は中務(なかつかさ)・式部・治部(じぶ)・民部、後者は兵部(ひょうぶ)・刑部(ぎょうぶ)・大蔵(おおくら)・宮内(くない)の各4省を管轄下に置き、長官である左右大弁は従(じゅ)四位上相当で、八省の卿(かみ)に次ぐ高官である。

　その起源は天武(てんむ)朝の大弁官にまでさかのぼるが、大宝(たいほう)令制に定着するまでには複雑な経緯があったようである。律令文書行政の中核をなす官であるため、平安時代に蔵人所(くろうどどころ)が設けられると頭(とう)（長官）のうち1人は弁官があてられ（頭弁(とうのべん)）、また文書を起草する史(し／ふみひと)の上首(じょうしゅ)（官務）は実務官僚として重視され、小槻(おづき)氏（壬生(みぶ)氏）が世襲した。

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