The Twelve Level Cap and Rank System (Kan’i Junikai) in 603 – Officials wore silk caps coloured purple, blue, red, yellow, white and black, that indicated the official’s rank. The system consisted of the greater and the lesser of each of the six Confucian virtues: virtue (徳 toku), benevolence (仁 jin), propriety (礼 rei), sincerity (信 shin), justice (義 gi) and knowledge (智 chi). The primary distinction between this new system and the old kabane system by which a person’s rank was determined based on heredity, was that the cap and rank system allowed for promotion based on merit and individual achievement;