For the first time, a wooden tag "mokkan" that seems to have written the performance evaluation of a female official called a court lady in the Nara period was discovered from the Heijo Palace ruins in Nara City.
This woman is believed to have been at work 329 days a year, and researchers say, ``It is a valuable document for understanding the actual situation of court ladies in the Nara period.''
The mokkan was found last year in the remains of a waterway near the section called "Dairi," where the emperor lived, in the remains of the Heijo Palace, the capital of the Nara period.
The wooden tablet is about 17 centimeters long and about 3 centimeters wide. It contains the letters ``Musume'', which means female, ``Year 59,'' which indicates age, and ``Nissanga nijuku,'' which is thought to be the number of working days in a year. ” was written in ink.
The Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, which conducted the investigation, believes that this wooden strip is from the first half of the Nara period, about 1,300 years ago, and from the contents of the description, it may be an evaluation of the work of a court lady who served in the Imperial Court.
It is said that this is the first time that a wooden strip that seems to have written down the performance evaluation of a court lady has been found.
According to the research institute, in principle, government officials working in Tokyo were required to take five days off a month, and most male officials worked less than 300 days a year. It can be seen that the number of working days was significantly higher than the number of working days.
Kuniya Kuwata, senior researcher at the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, said, "I think it was quite hard work even at the time. As a veteran, he was relied on by those around him, and he may have been working more days." It may be an opportunity to know the actual situation," he said.