Rōjū

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Rōjū ( Japanese 老 中 ), also translated as elder , was one of the highest offices in the administration of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan during the Edo period . Under Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successor, there were only two rōjū, later their number was increased to five, then decreased again to four.

For the office of Rōjū an income of 25,000 Koku was required. Officials with comparable tasks, but lower income, were referred to as Rōjūkaku ( 老 中 格 ).

Duties

The Rōjū had clearly defined tasks that were set in the reorganization of the shogunate government in 1634. Their role is comparable to that of ministers in modern governments, but the Rōjū were not assigned to a specific area of ​​responsibility. Instead, each rōjū had primary responsibility, but this post rotated monthly.

The duties of the rōjū included:

  • Relations with the Tennō, the imperial court and high-ranking abbots
  • Supervision of daimyo with land holdings of at least 10,000 koku .
  • The shaping of official documents.
  • The administration of the direct land ownership of the Shogunate ( Tenryō )
  • Minting, public supply and lending
  • Supervision of local governments, Buddhist temples and shrines
  • Cartography, statistics and archives

The Rōjū communicated with the Shogun through a chamberlain, the Soba-yōnin . The Rōjū also belonged to the Hyōjōsho , the supreme executive and judicial council in the Shogunate, together with the Ō-Metsuke and the representatives of the various Bugyō (commissions). The Hyōjōsho's task was, among other things, to propose the successor to the Shogun to the emperor.

Sometimes there was the office of Tairō (regent) over the Rōjū , but this was not always occupied.

Under Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1680–1709), however, the Rōjū lost massive influence. The shogun worked more closely with the tairo, the chamberlain, and other officials. This was especially true during the tenure of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu , who was in the rank of Tairō ( Tairōkaku ) but was not entitled to officially use this title. The Rōjū were more or less degraded to messengers who did not have the power to influence politics themselves. The contemporary Confucian Arai Hakuseki said that the Rōjū only forwarded Yoshiyasu's instructions. Even after Tsunayoshi's death, the rōjū no longer achieved their old meaning. However, the post continued to exist until the end of the Edo period .

Towards the end of the Edo period, in the Bakumatsu period, the Rōjū Abe Masahiro and Hotta Masayoshi played an important role in opening up the country and negotiating treaties with the colonial powers, such as the Treaty of Kanagawa and the Harris Treaty .

List of rōjū

Note: Each incumbent is listed only once, with their first term of office. Later terms of office are not listed.

Under Tokugawa Ieyasu

Under Tokugawa Hidetada

Under Tokugawa Iemitsu

Under Tokugawa Ietsuna

Under Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

Under Tokugawa Ienobu and Ietsugu

Under Tokugawa Yoshimune

Under Tokugawa Ieshige

Under Tokugawa Ieharu

Under Tokugawa Ienari

Under Tokugawa Ieyoshi

Under Tokugawa Iesada

Under Tokugawa Iemochi and Yoshinobu

Remarks

  1. ^ Sansom 141
  2. ↑ Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822 . P. 242n91. also read as Honda Tadayoshi

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