Karo

• Japanese: 家老 (karou)

Karô, sometimes translated as "House Elders," were among the highest-ranking advisors and officials under an Edo period daimyô. Holding a position within the domains roughly equivalent to that of the Rôjû ("Elders") within the Tokugawa shogunate, they played a central role in governance and administration, often acting in place of the daimyô in various contexts.

The karô of the three Gosanke Tokugawa clan houses, known as tsukegarô ("attached Elders"), were in 1850 granted status equivalent to lower-ranking daimyô.