''Tairō'' (, "great elder") was a high-ranking official position in the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

government of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, roughly comparable to the office of

prime minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. The ''tairō'' presided over the governing '' rōjū'' council in the event of an emergency. A ''tairō'' was nominated from among the '' fudai daimyōs'', who worked closely with the Tokugawa traditionally. Generally, the office holder was the shogunate's chief policymaker, and provided Japan with a capable temporary leader in the absence of a ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers 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, except during parts of the Kamak ...

'', or in the event that the ''shōgun'' was incapacitated.

List of ''tairō''

Notes

References

* Cullen, Louis M. (2003). ''A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds.'' Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. ;
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 is currently a member of the Ass ...

OCLC 36820228
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tairo Officials of the Tokugawa shogunate

List of ''tairō''

See also

Notes

References