was an unofficial designation given to a generation of elder Japanese statesmen and military officers, all born between the 1830s and 1850s, who served as informal extraconstitutional advisors to the emperor during the Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa eras of Japanese history.
The institution of genrō originated with the traditional council of elders (Rōjū) common in the Edo period; however, the term genrō appears to have been coined by a newspaper only in 1892. The term is sometimes confused with the Genrōin (Chamber of Elders), a legislative body which existed from 1875–1890; however, the genrō were not related to the establishment of that body or its dissolution.
Experienced leaders of the Meiji Restoration were singled out by the Emperor as , and asked to act as Imperial advisors. With the exception of Saionji Kinmochi, all the genrō were from middle or lower ranking samurai families, four each from Satsuma and Chōshū, the two former domains that had been instrumental in the overthrow of the former Tokugawa shogunate in the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration of 1867–1868. The genrō had the right to select and nominate Prime Ministers to the Emperor for approval.
The first seven genrō were all formerly members of the Sangi (Imperial Council) which was abolished in 1885. They are also sometimes known to historians as the Meiji oligarchy, although not all of the Meiji oligarchs were genrō.
The institution expired in 1940, with the death of the last of the genrō, Saionji Kinmochi.
List of genrō
Name Origin Portrait Birth DeathInoue Kaoru Chōshū 16 January 1836 1 September 1915Itō Hirobumi Chōshū 16 October 1841 26 October 1909Katsura Tarō Chōshū 4 January 1848 10 October 1913Kuroda Kiyotaka Satsuma 16 October 1840 23 August 1900Matsukata Masayoshi Satsuma 25 February 1835 2 July 1924Ōyama Iwao Satsuma 12 November 1842 10 December 1916Saigō Tsugumichi Satsuma 1 June 1843 18 July 1902Saionji Kinmochi Kuge 23 October 1849 24 November 1940Yamagata Aritomo Chōshū 14 June 1838 1 February 1922
See also
Council of Elders of the Bundestag (Germany) Privy council
References