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The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. It was formed by merging the feudal lords ( Daimyo) and court nobles ( kuge) into one system modelled after the British peerage. Distinguished military officers, politicians, and scholars were occasionally ennobled until the country's defeat in the Second World War in 1945 (). The system was abolished with the 1947 constitution, which prohibited any form of aristocracy under it, but kazoku descendants still form the core of the traditional upper class in the country's society, distinct from the nouveau riche.
華族]] should not be confused with 3=kazoku, which is pronounced the same in Japanese, but written with different characters, meaning "immediate family" (as in the film Kazoku above).
The Meiji oligarchy, as part of their Westernizing reforms, merged the with the former into an expanded aristocratic class on 25 July 1869, to recognize that the and former were a social class distinct from the other designated social classes of and . They lost their territorial privileges. Itō Hirobumi, one of the principal authors of the Meiji constitution, intended the new peerage to serve as a political and social bulwark for the "restored" emperor and the Japanese imperial institution. At the time, the (142 families) and former (285 families) consisted of a group of total 427 families.
All members of the without an official government appointment in the provinces were initially obliged to reside in Tokyo. By the end of 1869, a pension system was adopted, which gradually displaced the from their posts as provincial governors and as government leaders. The stipends promised by the government were eventually replaced by .
There were several categories within the . The initial rank distribution for houses of descent depended on the highest possible office to which its ancestors had been entitled in the imperial court. Thus, the heirs of the go-sekke of the Fujiwara clan (Konoe family, Takatsukasa, Kujō, Ichijō and Nijō) all became princes, the equivalent of a European duke, upon the establishment of the in 1884.
The heads of eight other families (Daigo family, Hirohata, Kikutei, Koga, Saionji family, Tokudaiji, Ōinomikado and Kasannoin) all with the rank of seiga, the second rank in the , became marquesses at the same time. Those family heads in the third tier of the and with the rank of daijin became counts. Heads of families in the lowest three tiers (those in the ranks of urin, mei and han) typically became viscounts, but could also be ennobled as counts.
Other appointments to the two highest ranks in the —prince and marquess—from among the were also made to reward certain families for their roles in the Meiji Restoration, for taking a prominent role in national affairs or for their close degree of relationship to the Imperial family. Thus the head of the -ranked house became a prince in 1884. The heads of the Tokudaiji and the Saionji houses were advanced to the rank of prince from the rank of marquess in 1911 and 1920, respectively.
In recognition of his father's role in the Meiji Restoration, Iwakura Tomosada, the heir of noble Iwakura Tomomi and whose family had been in the fourth tier of nobility, with the rank of , was ennobled as a prince in 1884. Nakayama Tadayasu, the Meiji Emperor's maternal grandfather and also from an -ranked family, was ennobled as a marquess. The head of the Shō family, the former royal family of the Ryūkyū Kingdom (Okinawa), was given the title of marquess. When the Korean Empire was annexed in 1910, the House of Yi was mediatized as an incorporated and therefore 王. Some Korean princes were also made Japanese 公.
Excluding the Tokugawa clan, the initial rank distribution for the former lords depended on rice revenue: those with 150,000 or more became marquesses, those with 50,000 or more become counts, and those with holdings rated below 50,000 became viscounts. The head of the Tokugawa clan, Tokugawa Iesato, became a prince, the heads of primary Tokugawa branch houses () became marquesses, the heads of the secondary branches became counts and the heads of more distant branches became viscounts. The head of the Matsudaira (Fukui Domain) branch was raised to the rank of marquess from the rank of count in 1888. In 1902, the former Tokugawa Yoshinobu was created a prince, and the head of the Mito house was raised to the same rank, prince, in 1929.
Of the other former clans, the heads of the Mōri (Chōshū Domain) and Shimazu (Satsuma Domain) clans were both ennobled as princes in 1884 for their role in the Meiji Restoration; the Yamauchi (Tosa Domain) clan was given the rank of marquess. The heads of the main Asano (Hiroshima Domain), Ikeda (Okayama Domain and ), Kuroda (Fukuoka Domain), Satake (Kubota Domain), Nabeshima (Saga Domain), Hachisuka (Tokushima Domain), Hosokawa (Kumamoto Domain) and Maeda (Kaga Domain) clans became marquesses in 1884.
Notably, the head of the main family line of the Date clan, which had formerly ruled the extensive Sendai Domain, was only ennobled as a count and was thus denied a hereditary seat in the House of Peers; this was likely due to the domain's prominent role as the leader of a coalition against the Imperial forces during the Boshin War. In 1891, the head of the Date-Uwajima family (Uwajima Domain), a cadet branch of the clan which had remained loyal to the Emperor during the conflict, was raised to the rank of marquess, having been ennobled as a count in 1884.
Many of those who had significant roles in the Meiji Restoration, or their heirs, were ennobled. Ito Hirobumi and Yamagata Aritomo were ennobled as counts in 1884, promoted to marquesses in 1895 and finally became princes in 1907. The heirs of Okubo Toshimichi and Kido Takayoshi, two of the three great nobles of the Meiji Restoration, were ennobled as marquesses in 1884, followed by the heirs of samurai general-politician Saigō Takamori in 1902.
Under the Peerage Act of 7 July 1884, pushed through by Home Minister and future first Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi after visiting Europe, the Meiji government expanded the hereditary peerage with the award of status to persons regarded as having performed distinguished public services to the nation. The government also divided the into five ranks explicitly based on the British peerage, but with titles deriving from the ancient Chinese nobility.
Usually, though not always, titles and hereditary financial stipends passed according to primogeniture. Unlike in European peerage systems, but following traditional Japanese custom, illegitimate sons could succeed to titles and estates. To prevent their lineages from dying out, heads of houses could (and frequently did) adopt sons from collateral branches of their own houses, whether in the male or female lines of descent, and from other houses whether related or not.
Unlike European custom, the adopted heir of a peer could succeed to a title ahead of a more senior heir in terms of primogeniture. A 1904 amendment to the 1889 Imperial Household Law allowed minor princes () of the imperial family to renounce their imperial status and become peers (in their own right) or heirs to childless peers.
Initially there were 11 non-imperial princes, 24 marquesses, 76 counts, 324 viscounts and 74 barons, for a total of 509 peers.Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan By 1928, through promotions and new creations, there were a total of 954 peers: 18 non-imperial princes, 40 marquesses, 108 counts, 379 viscounts and 409 barons. The reached a peak of 1016 Japanese family in 1944. Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan
The 1947 Constitution of Japan abolished the and ended the use of all titles of nobility or rank outside the immediate Imperial Family. Since the end of the war, many descendants of the families continue to occupy prominent roles in Japanese society and industry.Lebra, Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility.
The Kazoku Kaikan, or Peers' Club, was the association of the high nobility. It had its headquarters in the building. After 1947 it was renamed the Kasumi Kaikan and is located in the Kasumigaseki Building in Kasumigaseki.
Almost all kazoku heirs raised in Japan attended Gakushuin for their primary and secondary education. For higher education, the most preferred institutions included the University of Tokyo (called Tokyo Imperial University 1897-1947) (e.g., Prince Iemasa Tokugawa, Count Yoriyasu Arima) and the naval and army academies (e.g., Viscount Naganari Ogasawara, Marquess Toshinari Maeda).サトウユウキ, and 佐藤雄基. " 卒業論文題目からみた近代歴史学の歩み: 東京帝国大学国史学科 1905-1944 の事例報告." 立教大学日本学研究所年報 20 (2021): 49-30. Some opted to be educated overseas, such as at Eton College (e.g., Prince Tokugawa Iesato) and Cambridge University (e.g., Marquess Masauji Hachisuka, Baron Koyata Iwasaki). After completing their education, they pursued varied careers such as statesmen at the House of Peers, diplomats (e.g., Prince Iemasa Tokugawa, Marquess Naohiro Nabeshima), and scholars (e.g., Marquess Yoshichika Tokugawa, Prince Tomohide Iwakura). Those who followed rather unusual career paths included Marquess Yoshi Hijikata, who became a communist and fled to Soviet Russia, and Meiho Ogasawara, an heir to a viscountcy who pursued his passion for films and was disinherited in 1935.入倉友紀. " 松竹蒲田撮影所における女性の映画製作への参画――女優兼脚本家, 松井千枝子の活動を通して." 映像学 108 (2022): 144-163.
Kazoku usually married within their class. The Imperial Household Law of 1889 prohibited Imperial Princes from marrying commoners, hence their options were limited to Princesses and daughters of kazoku families. Kazoku daughters who married into the Imperial family include Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu (née Tokugawa clan), Yuriko, Princess Mikasa (née Tannan Domain), and Setsuko, Princess Chichibu (née Matsudaira clan).
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