noun
assistant director (ritsuryō system)
Historical term for the second-highest of the four administrative ranks in the ritsuryō bureaucracy. Not used in modern government.
See also: 四等官
律令制では、次官は長官を補佐する重要な役職だった。
Under the ritsuryō system, the assistant director was an important post that assisted the director.
The four-tiered official rank system of the ritsuryō state; 次官 is the second rank within that structure.
From 次 (next, second) and 官 (official, government post), referring to the second-ranking official in a ritsuryō office.