''Tairō'' (, "great elder") was a high-ranking official position in the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
government of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, roughly comparable to the office of
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
. The ''tairō'' presided over the governing ''
rōjū
The , usually translated as '' Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a whole; under the first two ''sh ...
'' council in the event of an emergency. A ''tairō'' was nominated from among the ''
fudai daimyō
was a class of ''daimyō'' (大名) in the Tokugawa Shogunate (徳川幕府) of Japan who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa before the Battle of Sekigahara. ''Fudai daimyō'' and their descendants filled the ranks of the Tokugawa admini ...
s'', who worked closely with the Tokugawa traditionally. Generally, the office holder was the shogunate's chief policy maker, and provided Japan with a capable temporary leader in the absence of a ''
shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...
'', or in the event that the ''shōgun'' was incapacitated.
List of ''tairō''
See also
* The
Five Tairō
Notes
References
* Cullen, Louis M. (2003). ''A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds.'' Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
. ;
OCLC 442929163*
Sansom, George Bailey. (1963). ''A History of Japan: 1615-1867.'' Stanford:
Stanford University Press
Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...
OCLC 36820228
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tairo
Officials of the Tokugawa shogunate