At first, the
kabane were administered by individual clans, but eventually they came to be controlled by the
Yamato imperial court. As the court's national unification efforts progressed, a
kabane was given to the most powerful families, which gradually became a hereditary noble title, and new ones were created. There were almost thirty of them in number. Some of the more common
kabane were , ,
Sukune (宿禰), , , , , , and . Descendants of the were given
Omi and the were given
Muraji. This power dynamic became one of the incentives of the
Taika Reform in 684. During this
reform, the
kabane was no longer tied to a specific occupation or political position, but simply began to signify a family's aristocratic lineage and social status. The existing
kabane were also reorganized into an consisting of
Mahito,
Ason,
Sukune, '
(忌寸), ' (道師),
Omi,
Muraji, ''
(稲置). The powerful Omi
of the time were given the kabane
of Ason
, which ranked second under the new system, while most of the Muraji
were given the kabane
of Sukune'', which ranked third. Later, as the clans began to devolve into individual households, the
kabane system gradually faded from use. == Name ==