Tairo

Japanese: 大老 (tairou)

English translations: Great Elder, senior counsellor, etc.

In 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi appointed five major lords as tairô to govern the country until his son Hideyori came of age. The go-tairô (五大老) were headed by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

During the Edo period, the tairô was the chief official under the shogun. The post was often unfilled, but at other times, the tairô managed to claim considerable power. The most famous holder of the post was Ii Naosuke.

List of Edo period Tairô

• Sakai Tadayo - 1636/3/12-1636/3/19
• Doi Toshikatsu - 1638/11/7-1644/7/10
• Sakai Tadakatsu - 1638/11/7-1656/5/26
• Sakai Tadakiyo - 1666/3/29-1680/12/9
• Ii Naozumi - 1668/11/19-1676/1/3
• Hotta Masatoshi - 1681/12/12-1684/8/28
• Ii Naooki - 1697/6/13-1700/3/2; (as Ii Naomori) 1711/2/13-1714/2/13
• Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu - 1706/1/11-1709/6/3
• Tanuma Okitsugu - 1767/7-1786/8/27
• Ii Naohide - 1784/11/28-1787/9/1
• Ii Naoaki - 1835/12/28-1841/5/15
• Abe Masahiro - 1845-1855
• Ii Naosuke - 1858/4/23-1860/3/3
• Sakai Tadashige - 1865/2/1-1865/11/12

References

• Rekishi techô 歴史手帳, Yoshikawa kôbunkan (2004), 42.