Difference between revisions of "Roju"

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The council met in a room known as the ''goyô beya'', where they discussed both matters of internal (domestic) administration and foreign relations; the council was also responsible for overseeing the [[kuge|court nobility]] and all the [[han|''daimyô'' domains]]/houses, and wielded the ability to dispatch ''[[metsuke|ômetsuke]]'' (inspectors) to the domains to help determine that policy was being observed. Among their many responsibilities and powers, the ''rôjû'' served as regents for young shoguns, and as intermediaries in shogunal audiences (e.g. between the shogun and the ''daimyô'' of [[Tsushima han]] in audiences with [[Korean embassies to Edo|Korean emissaries]], and heard and decided petitions and cases regarding domainal politics and policies. The position of chair of the council (''rôjû shuza'') rotated every month, and in addition the post of ''[[tairo|tairô]]'' stood above the ''rôjû'' in rank, but with a few exceptions, the ''tairô'' was a purely honorary position and neither he nor the monthly chairman wielded much actual power. One or two ''rôjû'' assigned ''kattegakari'' (overseer of finance) did wield considerable power, however, as that position was the immediate superior to the ''[[kanjo bugyo|kattekata kanjô bugyô]]'', the Magistrate of Finance, who oversaw the shogunate's administrative budget.
 
The council met in a room known as the ''goyô beya'', where they discussed both matters of internal (domestic) administration and foreign relations; the council was also responsible for overseeing the [[kuge|court nobility]] and all the [[han|''daimyô'' domains]]/houses, and wielded the ability to dispatch ''[[metsuke|ômetsuke]]'' (inspectors) to the domains to help determine that policy was being observed. Among their many responsibilities and powers, the ''rôjû'' served as regents for young shoguns, and as intermediaries in shogunal audiences (e.g. between the shogun and the ''daimyô'' of [[Tsushima han]] in audiences with [[Korean embassies to Edo|Korean emissaries]], and heard and decided petitions and cases regarding domainal politics and policies. The position of chair of the council (''rôjû shuza'') rotated every month, and in addition the post of ''[[tairo|tairô]]'' stood above the ''rôjû'' in rank, but with a few exceptions, the ''tairô'' was a purely honorary position and neither he nor the monthly chairman wielded much actual power. One or two ''rôjû'' assigned ''kattegakari'' (overseer of finance) did wield considerable power, however, as that position was the immediate superior to the ''[[kanjo bugyo|kattekata kanjô bugyô]]'', the Magistrate of Finance, who oversaw the shogunate's administrative budget.
  
−
The term was also used at times for senior councillors within domain governments.
+
The ''rôjû'' also served as members of the shogunate's chief judicial organ, the ''[[hyojosho|hyôjôsho]]'', and oversaw a number of key shogunate offices, including those of the ''[[ometsuke|ômetsuke]]'', ''kanjô bugyô'' (Finance Magistrates), ''[[sakuji bugyo|sakuji bugyô]]'' (Construction Magistrates), ''[[fushin bugyo|fushin bugyô]]'' (Public Works Magistrates), ''[[oban|ôbangumi]]'' (Great Guards units), and ''[[machi bugyo|machi bugyô]]'' (City Magistrates)''.<ref>Katô Takashi, "Governing Edo," in James McClain (ed.), ''Edo & Paris'', Cornell University Press (1994), 46.</ref>
 +
 
 +
The term was also used at times for senior councillors within domain governments, figures more often referred to as ''[[karo|karô]]'' today.
  
 
==Selected List of Rôjû==
 
==Selected List of Rôjû==
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*[[Mizuno Tadayuki]] (served 1717-?)
 
*[[Mizuno Tadayuki]] (served 1717-?)
 
*[[Honda Tadayoshi (1690-1751)|Honda Tadayoshi]] (served [[1734]]-[[1735]])
 
*[[Honda Tadayoshi (1690-1751)|Honda Tadayoshi]] (served [[1734]]-[[1735]])
−
*[[Matsudaira Yasuyoshi]]<!--松平康福--> ([[1763]]-[[1788]])
+
*[[Matsudaira Yasuyoshi]] ([[1763]]-[[1788]])
 +
*[[Abe Masasuke]] (served [[1764]]-?)
 
*[[Matsudaira Takechika]] (d. [[1779]]).
 
*[[Matsudaira Takechika]] (d. [[1779]]).
 
*[[Matsudaira Sadanobu]] (served 1780s-[[1793]])
 
*[[Matsudaira Sadanobu]] (served 1780s-[[1793]])
−
*[[Abe Masatomo]] (served 1788-[[1803]])
+
*[[Torii Tadaoki]] (served c. 1787)
 +
*[[Mizuno Tadatomo]] (served c. 1787)
 +
*[[Makino Sadanaga]] (served c. 1787)
 +
*[[Abe Masatomo]] (served 1787/3-1788/2)
 
*[[Matsudaira Nobuakira]] (served 1788-1803)
 
*[[Matsudaira Nobuakira]] (served 1788-1803)
 +
*[[Torii Tadataka]] (served c. 1790)
 
*[[Toda Ujinori]]
 
*[[Toda Ujinori]]
 
*[[Sakai Tadakiyo]]
 
*[[Sakai Tadakiyo]]
 
*[[Mizuno Tadaakira]] (served [[1818]]-?)
 
*[[Mizuno Tadaakira]] (served [[1818]]-?)
−
*[[Manabe Akikatsu]] (served [[1840]]-[[1843]], [[1858]]-[[1859]])
+
*[[Matsudaira Yasuto|Matsudaira Yasutô]] ([[1826]]-[[1835]])
−
*[[Hotta Masayoshi]] (1850s)
+
*[[Hotta Masahiro]] (served [[1841]]-[[1843]])
−
*[[Abe Masahiro]] (1850s)
+
*[[Mizuno Tadakuni]] (served ?-[[1843]])
−
*[[Mizuno Tadakuni]]
+
*[[Sanada Yukitsura]] (d. [[1852]])
 +
*[[Manabe Akikatsu]] (served [[1840]]-1843, [[1858]]-[[1859]])
 +
*[[Kuze Hirochika]] (served c. 1849-1858, 1860-?)
 +
*[[Matsudaira Noriyasu]] (served c. 1850-1855, 1858-?)
 +
*[[Toda Tadayoshi]] (d. 1851)
 +
*[[Hotta Masayoshi]] (1850s-1858)
 +
*[[Abe Masahiro]] (1850s - d. 1857)
 +
*[[Makino Tadamasa]] (early 1850s)
 
*[[Ando Nobumasa|Andô Nobumasa]]
 
*[[Ando Nobumasa|Andô Nobumasa]]
 +
*[[Matsudaira Tadakata]] (aka Tadamasu, c. 1850s-1858)
 +
*[[Wakisaka Yasuori]] ([[1857]]-?)
 
*[[Itakura Katsukiyo]] (ousted [[1864]])
 
*[[Itakura Katsukiyo]] (ousted [[1864]])
 
*[[Inaba Masakuni]]
 
*[[Inaba Masakuni]]
 
*[[Sakai Tadato]]
 
*[[Sakai Tadato]]
 +
*[[Ota Sukemoto]] (1858-1859)
 +
*[[Ando Nobuyuki|Andô Nobuyuki]] ([[1860]]-?)
 +
*[[Honda Tadamoto]] (1860-?)
 +
*[[Abe Masato]] (1864-?)
  
 
==References==
 
==References==

Latest revision as of 03:06, 23 August 2021

  • Other Names: 年寄 (toshiyori)
  • Japanese: 老中 (roujuu)

The rôjû, also known as "senior councillors" or Elders, were a committee or council of four or five fudai daimyô who served as the highest decision-making body in Tokugawa Japan. While they acted in the name of the shogun, issuing hôsho which spoke with his authority, and often consulted the shogun on a variety of matters, it was the rôjû and not the shogun who applied their seals or signatures to the vast majority of documents,[1] and who were the de facto decision-makers in most matters of policy.

The rôjû, along with the junior councillors or wakadoshiyori, were selected chiefly from middle- to low-ranking fudai houses,[2] in order to help ensure that those families who already possessed considerable rank, wealth, and power, were not to be granted further authority to dominate policy. In short, it was something of a measure towards greater balance of power. On rare occasions, a tozama or shinpan daimyô was named to the rôjû council, but even then, it was never a member of the most powerful families. Members of the Tokugawa collateral families (the Gosanke and Gosankyô) were ineligible for membership on the council. In the early decades of the shogunate, the Elders were known as toshiyori (lit. "elders"), with the term rôjû coming into use later.[3]

The council met in a room known as the goyô beya, where they discussed both matters of internal (domestic) administration and foreign relations; the council was also responsible for overseeing the court nobility and all the daimyô domains/houses, and wielded the ability to dispatch ômetsuke (inspectors) to the domains to help determine that policy was being observed. Among their many responsibilities and powers, the rôjû served as regents for young shoguns, and as intermediaries in shogunal audiences (e.g. between the shogun and the daimyô of Tsushima han in audiences with Korean emissaries, and heard and decided petitions and cases regarding domainal politics and policies. The position of chair of the council (rôjû shuza) rotated every month, and in addition the post of tairô stood above the rôjû in rank, but with a few exceptions, the tairô was a purely honorary position and neither he nor the monthly chairman wielded much actual power. One or two rôjû assigned kattegakari (overseer of finance) did wield considerable power, however, as that position was the immediate superior to the kattekata kanjô bugyô, the Magistrate of Finance, who oversaw the shogunate's administrative budget.

The rôjû also served as members of the shogunate's chief judicial organ, the hyôjôsho, and oversaw a number of key shogunate offices, including those of the ômetsuke, kanjô bugyô (Finance Magistrates), sakuji bugyô (Construction Magistrates), fushin bugyô (Public Works Magistrates), ôbangumi (Great Guards units), and machi bugyô (City Magistrates).[4]

The term was also used at times for senior councillors within domain governments, figures more often referred to as karô today.

Selected List of Rôjû

References

  • Mitani Hiroshi, David Noble (trans.), Escape from Impasse, International House of Japan (2006), xxiv-xxviii.
  1. ↑ One of the only cases in which the shogun signed his own signature was on official communications with the King of Korea.
  2. ↑ Generally, of the tsumeshû, or those daimyô assigned to the gan-no-ma as their waiting room in the honmaru palace of Edo castle. Yamamoto Hirofumi, Edo jidai - shôgun bushi tachi no jitsuzô, Tokyo Shoseki (2008), 67.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Yamamoto Hirofumi, Sankin Kôtai, Kodansha gendai shinsho (1998), 178.
  4. ↑ Katô Takashi, "Governing Edo," in James McClain (ed.), Edo & Paris, Cornell University Press (1994), 46.
  5. ↑ Andrew Rankin, Seppuku: A History of Samurai Suicide, New York: Kodansha International (2011), 123.
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