Jimukan Vs. Gikan
A corollary of the ascendancy of legalism was the subordination of technical specialists (gikan ) to administrative generalists (jimukan ).[40] We have previously noted that the gikan were recruited without
[39] Ibid., pp. 109-11. The quotation is from p. 111. It should be stressed that the "successors" to the samurai mentioned by Esman were predominantly commoners (72.4 percent in Inoki's 1937 sample). Only 26.4 percent of the 1937 sample was of samurai (shizoku ) origin. see n. 30, above.
[40] In prewar Japan, the term jimukan was used in two distinctly different senses. First, it referred to all non-gikan . Second, it encompassed soninkan with grades 4 through 6. See table 1.
TABLE 4 Speed of Promotion, by Field (Administrative vs. Technical Officials) and Ministry | ||||||
Ministry & Field | ||||||
Home Affairs | Posts and Telecom . | All Ministriesa | ||||
Step | Admin. | Tech. | Admin. | Tech. | Admin. | Tech. |
From entry to grade 7 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 2.10 |
From grade 7 to grade 6 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 2.3 |
From grade 6 to grade 5 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 2.6 |
From grade 5 to grade 4 | 2.7 | 2.10 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.8 |
From grade 4 to grade 3 | 2.9 | 2.10 | 2.10 | 2.11 | 2.7 | 2.11 |
From grade 3 to grade 2 | 6.1 | 11.7 | 5.0 | 9.5 | 5.7 | 9.5 |
From grade 2 to grade 1 | 2.11 | 7.0 | 2.1 | 4.8 | 3.1 | 4.5 |
From entry to grade 1 | 20.2 | 31.6 | 19.3 | 25.6 | 19.10 | 27.0 |
N | 46 | 25 | 30 | 24 | 151 | 186 |
SOURCE : Jinji-in, Kyuyokyoku, "Kyu kanri seidoka ni okeru kotokan no keireki chosa no kekka gaiyo," Kikan jinji gyosei 25 (Aug. 1983): 95 and 99-100. | ||||||
NOTE : The numbers with periods refer to years and months. Hence 1.6 means I year and 6 months. | ||||||
a Six ministries are included in this total: Home Affairs, Finance, Posts and Telecommunications, Railroads, Agriculture, and Commerce and Industry. | ||||||
examination through screening (senko ). Although they acquired sonin rank and therefore were classified as higher officials (kotokan ), only a small fraction of them was given managerial or supervisory positions. Chiefs of sections, divisions, and bureaus dealing with complex technical matters were typically jimukan trained in law but totally lacking in substantive expertise.
Moreover, as table 4 shows, there was a sizable gap between the two types of officials in the speed of promotion. In the Ministry of Home Affairs, gikan trailed behind jimukan every step of the way. It took gikan eleven more years than jimukan to reach grade 1. Those who made it, however, were the lucky ones, for the vast majority did not. In the technically oriented Ministry of Posts and Communications, gikan had an edge over jimukan in the early years of their career and then began to lose ground. The overall disadvantage of six years and three months, nonetheless, was considerably better than the lag of eleven years and four months in the Home Affairs Ministry. When all six ministries are considered, jimukan enjoy an edge in all stages of promotion, accumulating a net advantage of over seven years.
This anomalous situation bred inefficiency and conflict and had demoralizing effects on technical personnel, many of whom were graduates of Todai and other prestigious universities. Because there were more gikan than jimukan in the prewar higher civil service (about 53 percent to 47 percent), the situation in effect amounted to minority rule—the triumph of dilettantism over expertise.[41]