Reforms are further consolidated and codified in…

Reforms are further consolidated and codified in 701 under the Taiho-ryoritsu (Great Treasure Code, known as the Taiho Code), which, except for a few modifications and being relegated to primarily ceremonial functions, will remain in force until 1868.

The Taiho Code provides for Confucian-model penal provisions (light rather than harsh punishments) and Chinese-style central administration through the Department of Rites, which is devoted to Shinto and court rituals, and the Department of State, with its eight ministries (for central administration, ceremonies, civil affairs, the imperial household, justice, military affairs, people's affairs, and the treasury).

A Chinese-style civil service examination system based on the Confucian classics is also adopted.

Tradition circumvents the system, however, as aristocratic birth continue to be the main qualification for higher position.

The Taiho Code does not address the selection of the sovereign.

Several empresses reign from the fifth to the eighth centuries, but after 770 succession is restricted to males, usually from father to son, although sometimes to brother or uncle.