"Kengyô" was the highest of the four official ranks (kan'i) within the Tôdô-za - the Kyôto-based guild for the blind established early in the Muromachi Period (1392-1573), and abolished in 1871 (the fourth year of the Meiji Restoration). The three other ranks, in descending order, were "bettô", "kôtô", and "zatô" - as in The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003). The head of the Tôdô-za was the sô-kengyô (a.k.a. shoku-kengyô); the guild's headquarters was the Shoku-yashiki in Kyôto.
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