Naidaijin

The Naidaijin (内大臣, Naidaijin, also pronounced uchi no otodo), literally meaning "Inner Minister", was an ancient office in the Japanese Imperial Court. Its role, rank and authority varied throughout the pre-Meiji period of Japanese history, but in general remained as a significant post under the Taihō Code.[1]

This article is about the office in the Japanese imperial court before the 1880s. For the modern office with the same Japanese name, see Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan.
Premodern Japan
Part of a series on the politics and
government of Japan during the
Nara and Heian periods
Daijō-daijin
Minister of the LeftSadaijin
Minister of the RightUdaijin
Minister of the CenterNaidaijin
Major CounselorDainagon
Middle CounselorChūnagon
Minor CounselorShōnagon
Eight Ministries
CenterNakatsukasa-shō  
CeremonialShikibu-shō
Civil AdministrationJibu-shō
Popular AffairsMinbu-shō
WarHyōbu-shō
JusticeGyōbu-shō
TreasuryŌkura-shō
Imperial HouseholdKunai-shō

History

Pre-Meiji period

The office of Naidaijin predated the Taihō Code of 701. Fujiwara no Kamatari was the first person appointed to the post in 669. After the appointment of Fujiwara no Michitaka in 989, the office became permanently established, ranking just below that of Udaijin ("Right Minister") and Sadaijin ("Left Minister").

Meiji period and after
Main article: Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan

The office developed a different character in the Meiji period. In 1885, the title was reconfigured to mean the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan in the Imperial Court.[2] In that year, the office of prime minister or chief minister of the initial restoration government was the Daijō-daijin, Sanjō Sanetomi. In December, Sanjō petitioned the emperor to be relieved of his office; and he was then immediately appointed Naidaijin, or Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal.[3]

The office of the Privy Seal was identical with the old Naidaijin only in the sense of the Japanese title—not in terms of function or powers.[4]

The nature of the office further evolved in the Taishō and Shōwa periods. The title was abolished on November 24, 1945.[5]

See also

Notes
  1. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 425.
  2. Dus, Peter. (1988). The Cambridge History of Japan: The Twentieth Century, pp. 59, 81.
  3. Ozaki, p. 86.
  4. Unterstein (in German): Ranks in Ancient and Meiji Japan (in English and French), pp. 6, 27.
  5. Glossary | Birth of the Constitution of Japan

References
  • (in Japanese) Asai, T. (1985). Nyokan Tūkai. Tokyo: Kōdansha.
  • Dickenson, Walter G. (1869). Japan: Being a Sketch of the History, Government and Officers of the Empire. London: W. Blackwood and Sons. OCLC 10716445
  • Ozaki, Yukio. (2001). The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in Japan. [Translated by Fujiko Hara]. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05095-3 (cloth)
  • (in Japanese) Ozaki, Yukio. (1955). Ozak Gakudō Zenshū. Tokyo: Kōronsha.
  • Sansom, George (1958). A History of Japan to 1334. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0523-3
  • Dus, Peter. (1988). The Cambridge History of Japan: the Twentieth Century, Vol. 6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22357-1
  • Ozaki, Yukio. (2001). The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in Japan. [Translated by Fujiko Hara]. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05095-3 (cloth)
  • Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822. London: Routledge Curzon. ISBN 0-7007-1720-X
  • (in French) Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
  • Varley, H. Paul, ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4
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