Japanese regent
The office of regent in Japan differed from that in other countries in that the highest rank (be it Tennō or Shogun ) did not exercise the rule himself, but was represented by an official as an adult.
For an overview of the incumbents, see: List of Japanese regents
Regents for emperors
antiquity
In the early days of Japan, rule for a minor ruler was usually exercised by his mother, who ruled as empress until he came of age. In mythical prehistoric times, Jingū Kōgō (trad. † 269; probably around 400) is referred to as the first regent .
A special case of the Asuka period is the "reign" of Shōtoku Taishi († 622), who - nominally also Crown Prince - ruled in agreement with his aunt, the Empress Suiko (r. 592-628).
Sesshō and Kampaku
A Sesshō ( 摂 政 ) - regent for an underage Tennō - embodied the entire dignity of the emperor, i.e. regnum (worldly power) and sacerdotium, the spiritual dignity based on his "divine" descent. Fujiwara no Yorinaga (1120–56) defined the office: "The Sesshō that is the Son of Heaven."
A kampaku (also Kanpaku , 関 白 ), although "head of the hundred officials" ( hyakkan-sōki no nin ), was always subject. The term itself, taken over from Tachibana no Hiromi (837-890) from Chinese (W.-G .: kuan pei ) and coined, was originally only used verbally to denote a special function granted by the Tennō and only developed later in a so-called "office" of the "regent for an adult Tennō". The incumbent was often described as ichi no hito ("the first man")
development
Shortly after moving to the new capital Heian-kyō , the Grand Chancellor Fujiwara no Yoshifusa succeeded in bringing the underage Emperor Seiwa , his grandson, to the throne in 858 . He himself took on the title Sesshō and was thus the first regent not belonging to the imperial family, an in itself illegal process. Yoshifusa continued the reign even after Seiwas came of age.
Fujiwara no Mototsune (836-891) was Yoshifusa's successor as head of the Fujiwara family. He entered 884 to the reign for Kōkō , while he referred to himself as kampaku . Fujiwara no Tadahira (880–949) was head of government and regent for two emperors. Although the other two members of the House had already acted as regents, the final modalities of the regent system did not develop until his time. Sesshō and Kampaku became the dominant figures in the political history of the Heian period. The Fujiwara rulership of the court was total through these offices for the next two centuries. The government of this epoch was called mandokoro-seiji, since all important entries to the throne and decrees were only checked and approved in the private residence of the Fujiwara, the mandokoro .
A first weakening of the regent's position of power resulted with the creation of the “abdicated emperor” (1086–1321; insei ) who intervened in day-to-day business.
Already towards the end of the Heian period , the political importance of the imperial court had declined significantly, although this always remained the source of the legitimation of the respective military rulers. Since 1221, the appointment of a regent required the approval of the shogunate. For this purpose, a position of the "Deputy Shogun" ( Tandai ), with a residence in the Rokuhara district of Kyoto was created. It became customary for the regent to hold the position of tandai for the Kamakura shoguns ( Shikken ) first.
The rulers continued to come from the five lines of the Fujiwara gosekke , into which the Hokke house had split in the 13th century. The office remained prestigious until its abolition.
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The only exceptions were Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his grandson Toyotomi Hidetsugu . The appointment of Hideyoshis (November 7, 1585) was particularly controversial, as it was the first time an outsider should take over the office. Formally he became a member of the Konoe through adoption .
Resigned Kampaku were called Taikō ( 太 閤 ), later this name became synonymous with Toyotomi Hideyoshi . The Tokugawa Shoguns did not accept court positions, but were given court ranks.
The office of regent was officially abolished by the "Proclamation of the Restoration of Imperial Rule " ( ōsei fukko no daigōrei ) on January 3, 1868.
Modern
The imperial house law ( Kōshitsu tempan 1889, Art. 19-25) also provides a regency ( taikan ) for minors or incapacitated Tennō , whereby the rulers, who may also be female - as long as they were unmarried - come from the imperial family. Under the Meiji Constitution (Articles 17 and 75), as long as there was a reign, neither the constitution nor the imperial house law could be changed. Hirohito exercised the reign for his mentally ill father from 1917-26. The modalities were adapted to democratic conditions with the Kōshitsu tempan 1947 (§ 16-21). The regent (Sesshō) enjoys immunity, but only performs the duties of the person represented.
Regents for shoguns
Shikken
The Shikken ( 執 権 ) was the regent for the Shogun in the Kamakura Shogunate. The post was in the monopoly of the Hōjō clan.
Hōjō Tokimasa , who was a father-in-law of the first Shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo , became the first Shikken in 1203. The Shikken was head of the Mandokoro at the time . After replacing the second Shogun Minamoto no Yoriie with Minamoto no Sanetomo , he became the de facto ruler of the Shogunate.
Tokimasa's son Hōjō Yoshitoki strengthened the post by integrating with the post of samurai dokoro after the destruction of the powerful Wada clan who had previously ruled this position. The shikken became the highest post that ruled the shoguns who served as straw men. In 1224, Yoshitoki's son Hōjō Yasutoki introduced the Rensho (co-signer) as an assistant to the Shikken.
First the post of Shikken was occupied by the Tokuso , the head of the Hōjō clan, Hōjō Tokiyori later separated the two posts. He installed Hōjō Nagatoki as Shikken, while he had his son Hōjō Tokimune succeed as Tokuso, who held effective power in his hands until the family was destroyed in 1333.
Tairo
Under the third Tokugawa Shogun, the office of Tairō was created, who originally served as chairman of the council ( rōjū ). In later times a regent position for the Shogun developed from this. After 1648, the office was only filled in times of crisis. Its best known owner is Ii Naosuke , who was appointed in 1858.
See also
literature
- Kemper, Ulrich; The creation of the Kampaku Office; in: Nachrichten der OAG Vol. 103, pp. 19–38
- Ōmura Yūko; Kanpaku ninan-ki; in: Kuwara Tadachika (ed.), Taikō shiryū shu Tōkyō 1971 (Toyotomi Hideyoshi as Kampaku, pp. 75–86)
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Weber-Schäfer, Peter; Legitimacy and Genealogy: To mythical justification of political rule ; in: Bruno Lewin in honor (= Bochum yearbook on East Asian research, vol. 13); Bochum 1989 (Brockmeyer), Vol. 2, p. 410.
- ↑ Taiki Nimpei 1/3/1
- ↑ Kemper; Origin ..., S 21f, 25, 32ff
- ↑ Fujiwara no Tadahira
- ^ Fischer Weltgeschichte: The Japanese Empire; Frankfurt 1968, p. 70.
- ↑ Shokyuki: Account of that War 1221; Monumenta Nipponica 1964, p. 163.
- ^ The Japanese Empire (1968), pp. 148, 150
- ↑ see: Butler, Lee; Emperor and Aristocracy 1467-1680; Cambridge 2002, ISBN 0-674-00851-0 , pp. 166-8.
- ↑ Konoe Sakihisa
- ↑ U. Goch; Kampaku ; in: H. Hammitzsch; Japan-Handbuch, Wiesbaden 1981; Sp. 427f
- ^ Ramming; Japan manual; 1940, p. 479.
- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica Online "Tairo"