|
The , usually translated as ''Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts in under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a whole; under the first two shoguns, there were only two ''Rōjū''. The number was then increased to five, and later reduced to four. The ''Rōjū'' were appointed from the ranks of the ''fudai'' daimyo with domains of between 25,000 and 50,000 ''koku''.〔, p. 18.〕 ==Duties== The ''Rōjū'' had a number of responsibilities, most clearly delineated in the 1634 ordinance that reorganized the government and created a number of new posts: :#Relations with the Throne, the Court, and the Prince-Abbots. :#Supervision of those ''daimyo'' who controlled lands worth at least 10,000 ''koku''. :#Managing the forms taken by official documents in official communications. :#Supervision of the internal affairs of the Shogun's domains. :#Coinage, public works, and enfiefment. :#Governmental relations and supervision of monasteries and shrines. :#Compilation of maps, charts, and other government records. The ''Rōjū'' served not simultaneously, but in rotation, each serving the Shogun for a month at a time, communicating with the Shogun through a chamberlain, called ''Soba-yōnin''. However, the ''Rōjū'' also served as members of the ''Hyōjōsho'' council, along with the ''Ō-Metsuke'' and representatives of various ''Bugyō'' (Commissions or Departments). As part of the ''Hyōjōsho'', the ''Rōjū'' sometimes served a role similar to that of a supreme court, deciding succession disputes and other such disputed matters of state. Under the reign of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1680–1709), however, the ''Rōjū'' lost nearly all their power, as the Shogun began to work more closely with the ''Tairō'', Chamberlains, and others, including Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, who held the power of a ''Tairō'', but not the title. The ''Rōjū'' became little more than messengers, going through the motions of their proper roles as intermediaries between the Shogun and other offices, but not being able to exercise any power to change or decide policy. As Arai Hakuseki, a major Confucian poet and politician of the time wrote, "All the Rōjū did was to pass on his 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rōjū」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|