Abstract: In Japan, the nobility is not a historical concept given to the ancestors by later historians, but a specific social class that has existed from ancient times to the end of World War II. With the changes of the social environment, different kind of nobles controlled the center of the political arena in different historical periods. Based on a brief description of the scale, structure and characteristics of these nobilities in different historical periods, this paper analyzes the influence of the nobility tradition on Japanese nationality: the class supremacy, the emphasis on inheritance, and the dual personality of Japanese people.

Key words: court nobles, Samurai nobles, Kazoku, national character