In earlier times, only members of the
Imperial Family could be appointed . The reports that
Emperor Ōjin was assisted by his mother,
Empress Jingū, but it is doubtful if it is a historical fact. The first historical was
Prince Shōtoku, who assisted
Empress Suiko. The
Fujiwara clan was the primary holder of the and titles. More precisely, those titles were held by the
Fujiwara Hokke (northern Fujiwara family) and its descendants, to which
Fujiwara no Yoshifusa belonged. In 858, Fujiwara no Yoshifusa became . He was the first not to be a member of the Imperial house. In 887,
Fujiwara no Mototsune, the nephew and adopted son of Yoshifusa, was appointed to the newly created office of . In the 12th century, there were
five families among the descendants of Yorimichi called : the
Konoe family,
Kujō family,
Ichijō family,
Takatsukasa family and
Nijō family. Both the Konoe and Kujō families were descendants of
Fujiwara no Yorimichi, through
Fujiwara no Tadamichi. The other three families were derived from either the Konoe or Kujō families. Until the
Meiji Restoration of 1868, those five families held those title exclusively with the two exceptions of
Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his nephew
Toyotomi Hidetsugu. The offices and titles of and were abolished by the declaration of the Imperial Restoration in 1868 during the
Meiji Restoration in order to reorganize the government structure. The office and title of was stipulated under the former
Imperial Household Law in 1889 and also under the new Imperial Household Law in 1948. Under these laws, the officeholder of is restricted to a member of the
Japanese Imperial family.
Crown Prince Hirohito, before becoming Emperor Shōwa, was from 1921 to 1926 for the mentally disabled
Emperor Taishō. He was called . The area of Taikō in Nagoya is named after the title, although it refers to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The main street is Taikō-dōri, which is served by the subway
Taiko-dori Station. ==List==