Saemon no jo (Government Post) (左衛門尉)

Saemon no jo was a government post under the Japanese ritsuryo legal code system. Saemon no jo was hangan (inspector [third highest of the four administrative ranks of the ritsuryo period]) in Saemonfu, and the corresponding court rank was Sixth Rank. When a person at Fifth Rank was appointed Saemon no jo, he was called Saemontaifu or Taifu no jo, and when the holder of the position of Saemon no jo was appointed concurrently with Kebiishi, the official was popularly called Teii. MINAMOTO no Yoshitsune who was active in the punitive force against the Taira clan was appointed Saemon no jo. After the Kamakura period, the post became merely nominal, but as the increasing number of samurai warriors became appointed the government posts, a lot of samurai warriors were appointed Saemon no jo or granted to use it as unofficial title from the Kamakura period through the Edo period, because the posts of military officer including Saemon no jo were widely popular among the samurai warriors.

[Original Japanese]