Tairō (, "great elder") was a high-ranking official position in the Tokugawa shogunate government of Japan, roughly comparable to the office of prime minister. The tairō presided over the governing rōjū council in the event of an emergency. A tairō was nominated from among the fudai daimyōs, who worked closely with the Tokugawa traditionally. Generally, the office holder was the shogunate's chief policymaker, and provided Japan with a capable temporary leader in the absence of a shōgun, or in the event that the shōgun was incapacitated.
List of tairō
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" | From
! scope="col" | To
! scope="col" | Shogun
|-
! scope="row" | Sakai Tadayo
| March 12, 1636
| March 19, 1636
| Tokugawa Iemitsu
|-
! scope="row" | Doi Toshikatsu
| March 29, 1666
| December 9, 1680
| Tokugawa Ietsuna
|-
! scope="row" | Ii Naozumi
| November 19, 1668
| January 3, 1676
| Tokugawa Ietsuna
|-
! scope="row" | Hotta Masatoshi
| November 12, 1681
| August 28, 1684
| Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
|-
! scope="row" | Ii Naooki
| June 13, 1696
| March 2, 1700
| Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
|-
! scope="row" | Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu
| January 11, 1706
| June 3, 1709
| Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
|-
! scope="row" | Ii Naooki
| February 13, 1711
| February 23, 1714
| Tokugawa Ienobu<br/>Tokugawa Ietsugu
|-
! scope="row" | Ii Naoyuki
| November 28, 1784
| September 1, 1787
| Tokugawa Ieharu<br/>Tokugawa Ienari
|-
! scope="row" | Ii Naoaki
| December 28, 1835
| May 13, 1841
| Tokugawa Ienari<br/>Tokugawa Ieyoshi
|-
! scope="row" | Ii Naosuke
| April 23, 1858
| March 24, 1860
| Tokugawa Iesada<br/>Tokugawa Iemochi
|-
! scope="row" | Sakai Tadashige
| February 1, 1865
| November 12, 1865
| Tokugawa Iemochi
|}
See also
- The Five Tairō
Notes
References
- Cullen, Louis M. (2003). A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; ; OCLC 442929163
- Sansom, George Bailey. (1963). A History of Japan: 1615-1867. Stanford: Stanford University Press. OCLC 36820228