There can be many parameters to compare on, but the starting point must be that around which the aristocracy arose; king/emperor, money and power!
The GDP model – economic power relations and countries with historical nobility is a good starting point. Today, Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) is roughly the same as Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany, - combined! Or a little less than Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the UK and Spain, - combined!
Japan's economic power is gigantic compared to the monarchies and nobility of European countries - and always has been, apart from the early industrialization from approx. 1840-1890. But as Danes, we are more interested in comparing directly with Denmark – our motherland? Directly compared to Denmark, which is also one of the world's most prosperous nations, Japan has approx. 15 times greater GDP, approx. 22 times larger population and approx. 9 times larger land area. Japan is the world's oldest empire at 2,600+ years and Denmark is the world's oldest kingdom at almost 1,200 years.
But that doesn't say anything about why Danish or European nobility "see themselves as elevated, finer or special" compared to the Japanese nobility - how do we settle this "dispute" with objective eyes? Comparisons are always difficult, but luckily most of all nobility was measured by the same thing: Estates, gold and power!
The Kingdom of Denmark-Norway-Scania/Halland/Blekinge became an absolute monarchy under Christian V in 1660; His Majesty the King: By the Grace of God, King of Denmark and Norway, the Wends and the Goths, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn and Dithmarschen, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst.
The old Danish nobility has traditionally been very powerful through the royal council and blocked many of the king's wishes. The king could not actually appoint new Danish nobility without the consent of the Riksrådet! It was therefore changed in 1671, when the king established a new Danish nobility - appointed by the king. In this way, the king broke the power of the old Danish nobility – 16 noble ancestry was no longer a criterion for the new titled or untitled nobility. The foreign nobles were looked down upon by the old Danish nobility, which created problems if these foreign nobles held important positions in Christian V's government. It was difficult for them to carry out their work, as they missed the recognition of the social elite and equality as nobility. Therefore, a regulation came in 1671, which broke the power of the old Danish nobility.
In principle, everyone without exception could become noble - as long as they had property or gold. But in principle most were already nobles. But this meant over time that important and very rich business people were ennobled or given titles, and thus recognized for their importance to Denmark. But it also meant that immigrant nobles from especially the German Empire with its many different principalities could now be recognized as Danish nobility! It now also happened to French, English and Polish immigrants! For example, a French nobleman became a Danish duke, as the only one ever.
Right up to the 20th century, this created a liberal attitude towards immigrant foreign nobility, who became king. naturalized as Danish nobility. The last was in 1913 by Christian X, - almost 65 years after the abolition of the autocracy.
In 1671 it was "pay-back time" from the new absolute king to the old nobility in Denmark. The last almost 800 years of history had shown that the nobles in Denmark could easily, in critical situations, take up arms against their own king or commit treason in power struggles. In 1671, their power was broken down and a new aristocracy that was loyal to the king became a fact, where a nobility regulation was issued, which experienced several changes along the way. There were several innovations which aimed, in step with the times in Europe, to create a dependence and glorification of the royal power, which had become absolute:
The old nobility "saw itself as special" compared to the new nobility of 1671 and many therefore failed to apply and pay for the new titles, but remained untitled Danish nobility. But after all, the new nobility ordinance of 1671 was a big hit.
Today, new noble titles are only created within the royal family, law enforcement is automatically reserved for 90? % top officials/women and 10? % business people. The finest Danish non-noble titles, such as chamberlain and master huntsman, which are high on the rank regulation, are today mainly reserved for the old nobility, landowners and confidants of the royal family.
Incidentally, this is the case today for almost all countries, only the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and the UK still create new titles of nobility. The few nobles still have estates and gold. But the aristocracy still owns many estates – in the UK it is up to the 50-60 %. Most nobles have quite ordinary jobs like all other people in society. But what separates them is a quite unique history and they often know all their ancestors for many generations depending on their creation date. There have been approx. 725 Danish noble families throughout history, but only approx. 200 is still alive and kicking today.
The Japanese nobility has largely been divided into a warrior nobility and a court nobility for the last 1200 years. Some families were both. In 1869, Japan's nobility was united into one group of 427 families, called the Kazoku. Following English and German inspiration, a new titled high political nobility was appointed from 1884, which lasted until 1947; in 1884 it was 509 families and in 1947 1016 families. After that, everyone was equal. The same thing happened in Denmark with the constitution in 1849 and the replacement of the county in 1919.
In Japan, the concept of sheriff was formalized in 1601, as it later happened in Denmark in 1671. In Japan, you could only be nominated as sheriff by the Shogun (Absolute King) to the Emperor (The divine wreath cake figure) who signed the pardon if you had an income each year of at least 10,000 koku. Koku is a comparable term to the Danish and German hartkorn, which is based on agricultural yield and thus income, - regardless of whether the unit of measurement is hartkorn (Rigsdaler silver) or koku. For a direct comparison, we simply have to convert to Danish kroner (2017), and fortunately it is easy, as others have done this before. However, we must remember that the GDP (Gross National Product) was SIGNIFICANTLY smaller for all agricultural and trading countries in the 17th or 19th century than it is in the heavily industrialized society today. We will address that later in a different way.
The requirements for a royal pardon as a Danish county count or county baron in 1671+ were respectively at least 2,500 and 1,000 barrels of hard grain, corresponding to 120,000 and 50,000 Riksdalers, – at the time of the pardon. This corresponds to an annual turnover or "salary" before expenses of approx. 10 million DKK/year and approx. 4 million DKK. The rule of thumb for the distribution of expenses and the sheriff's salary is 2/3 and 1/3.
Compared to today, there are approx. 46,000 Danes who earn more than DKK 1.4 million, which is the limit for the top 1 % in Denmark. There are approximately 4,500 who earn more than DKK 4 million. DKK and approx. 1100 who have a household income of more than 10 million. DKK. So the calculated figures are not completely skewed, and they must be said to be very good wages.
If we compare with the Japanese Daimyo – lord of the sheriff, we get the following comparable figures. 10,000 Koku is the minimum limit for a Daimyo – county lord. This corresponds to an annual turnover or "salary" before expenses of approx. 50 million DKK/year. Some sources say approx. 8 million USD, which at the 2018 exchange rate gives a few million extra. The rule of thumb for the distribution of expenses and the sheriff's salary is 2/3 and 1/3.
Of course, there were Danish sheriffs and sheriff barons who had a larger income than the minimum requirement. But that was definitely also the case in Japan, and here there is a division into three Daimyo classes; Sho-han Joshu (80 %) as under 100,000 koku, Chu-han ryoushu (12 %) under 400,000 koku and Dai-han kokushu (8 %) up to 1,000,000 koku. This corresponds to an annual turnover or "salary" before expenses of up to approx. 500 million DKK/year, 2 billion DKK/year and 5 billion DKK/year, and these must also be said to be very good wages.
The Tokugawa shogun's official fief areas distributed throughout Japan were between 4-7 million. koku, which corresponds to an annual turnover or "salary" before expenses of up to DKK 20-35 billion. DKK/year. In comparison, the emperor was awarded around 500,000 koku by the Tokugawa Shoguns, which corresponds to an annual turnover or "salary" before expenses of up to approx. 2.5 billion DKK/year, which is actually not that different from today, when all open and hidden expenses and income are included.
We can now begin to directly compare the Danish sheriff with the Japanese sheriff:
Another way of comparison and conversion is to compare with requirements for barrels of hard grain and Koku:
The numbers are a maximum of around 10 % different regardless of the conversion method, and is an acceptable uncertainty factor and the conclusion is and remains the same.
The true comparable picture has now been created and the conclusion must be that we cannot directly compare the Danish titled nobility with the Japanese Daimyos. The Japanese Daimyos are actually fiefdoms of various powers, which can be directly compared to the German federation of fiefdoms, which we have already done once.
Barons, sheriff barons, counts and sheriffs therefore rank below the sheriff, who in Denmark was the king. And to tell the truth, many Daimyos can be directly compared to the Danish king – in power, property and gold – and army:
It may not be flattering to many in the Danish nobility, but this is an international comparison. And therefore the best international comparison is to compare the Japanese liege princes Daimyo's with the German liege princes in the German Imperial Confederation. The Japanese did this even before 1884, when they had to introduce the new titled nobility. Here the comparison was directly with Germany and in terms of prestige with the UK.
Daimyos, who in both Japanese and European contexts are lords, existed in Japan from around the middle of the 12th century to 1869, i.e. around 700 years. But already before the 12th century the concept existed in Japan, it was just not called Daimyo and there were no "standardization requirements" to be granted the title of sheriff and the almost absolute power it entailed. So from 660 BC to the 1100s the designation was just different and changing. But it is a fact that Japanese nobility has existed since 660 BC, i.e. in 1884 for approximately 2,500 years. The new modern and highly political "Meiji aristocracy" based on German and English inspiration only existed until 1947, - really just 63 years!.
Therefore – there is still great respect for the ura nobility in Japan, which has existed for 2600+ years. There is no respect for the highly political "Meiji nobility" from 1884-1947. In 1947 everyone became formally equal in Japan and Japan got a new American written constitution. And yet.
In 1947, the US moved the administration of the Imperial House directly under the US-dictated political structure; Office of the Prime Minister. All of Japan's elite were clearly deeply affected and uncomfortable with this dictate, as the Japanese Imperial House has always been formally the head of state and therefore subordinate to no one. The Japanese Imperial House has always been regarded as divine and therefore the Japanese high nobility who originate from the Imperial House are also treated as "semi-divine".
For 800 years, Japan functioned almost as a "constitutional imperial monarchy", where the emperor could advise and admonish the Shogun ("Absolute King"), but not dictate to him. But just like in the European constitutional royal houses after 1848+, this happened regularly throughout time. This was also the reason why the administration of the imperial house in 2010 became "an independent unit directly at the prime minister's office", - however without reporting or being responsible to him. It was therefore the modern version of everything being as it was before 1947. And yet.
The Japanese emperor after April 30, 2019 is called Naruhito. Naruhito is well-travelled, has been to Denmark many times and is a good friend of the Danish royal house. The only problem is that he doesn't have a son, but a daughter. Therefore, in 2005, a long political discussion began on how this problem could be solved. It quickly boiled down to a discussion about the old solution until 1947, had to be implemented. The solution was parked in 2012 and for now it is the emperor's brother; Akishino or his son, Hisahito, who is the next heir to the throne – currently There are many who are extremely dissatisfied with this and now you have to hear why!
If the Japanese government were to revive the ancient Japanese tradition and cultural heritage through 2600 years, then both the side branches of the Imperial House and thus also the old nobility would have to be recognized again - constitutionally. Japan would then be the first nation in the world to "turn history backwards" and officially recognize noble blood again. But it could also be perceived as a political statement of dimensions vis-à-vis the USA and China in particular. People were not prepared for that 10-15 years ago - but the discussion continues and the old cultural history and tradition is gaining ground.
In Japan, people are very pragmatic and this is also reflected in the succession to noble families and usually the imperial family until 1947.
You are born Shinto and buried Buddhist. Religion is a personal thing. Emperor Naruhito's mother is originally a Catholic, but converted to Shintoism when she married Naruhito's father, Akihito, Japan's emperor number 125. In Japan, people were also very pragmatic regarding heirs to the imperial house, the princely and princely houses, the noble houses, the samurai houses, - yes all family houses.
In order to ensure suitable heirs for the survival of the family, it was customary and common for the emperor and the high nobility to marry politically "to hear hand and wife", but also marry for love to "left hand and official Maitresse". But not only that, you could also adopt sons and daughters as your own children. If you only had daughters, you could adopt their husbands as your sons and thereby their children could also become heirs of the blood. This also happened after 1947, when the old princely houses prepared for the old aristocracy to be reintroduced. They did not expect the "Meiji nobility" to be reintroduced, as it was considered a finished political chapter, i.e. as at best "lifetime titles" and not hereditary titles of nobility.
In contrast to Europe and Denmark, all children were from both wives, mistresses and the various adopted, officially recognized and legitimate children, and the most suitable son/s could therefore inherit estates, gold, power and noble titles in both main lines (Honké) as side lines (Bunké). Eg. was Emperor number 123; Taisho (1912-1926), child of the Emperor and an official maitresse. This way you had both enough daughters to secure alliances and enough sons to ensure the survival of the lineage. Remember that war, disease and maternity were very costly in human life throughout history.
It was not like that in Europe. Here, the norm was that it was the eldest son who inherited, regardless of whether he was fit or not. If an heir could not have children, there are many unofficial versions that the father, brothers or other "breeding stallion" stepped in. Otherwise, only the male line could inherit. Only in rare cases also in the female line.
In many royal and princely houses, the rule was that only princely houses could marry each other and produce real and legitimate children. This meant after a few hundred years that cousins regularly married each other.
We all know today that inbreeding is bad for the survival of the family. Genetic reproduction of close relatives can cause both psychological, as well as physical and mental illnesses. It is not so good for a despotic king with unlimited power - it is dangerous for subjects and neighbors. And when it's been going on for centuries, it just gets worse and worse. All European royal houses have had many glaring examples, which also applies to e.g. the Danish, English and Spanish royal houses. It also happened in the Imperial House of Japan.
Everyone was well aware of the problem. Attempts were made to remedy the problem and therefore especially the many of the numerous German sheriff houses became favored marriage partners. But sometimes love got in the way. A very good example is Queen Victoria of the UK, who married her own German cousin, Albert on her mother's side. Only around the second world war did the "cousin-cousin inbreeding party" ebb away among the European royal houses. Both the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch and Spanish royal houses have married for love and with non-nobles, the Belgian, English and Japanese royal/imperial houses have married with nobles, but also for love.
The various European princely houses even pardoned their confidants with hereditary letters of nobility or noble titles. A nobility under an absolute king with a unified country had only one nobility. But this did not apply to imperial or royal houses, which consisted of federal states with independent county princes.
This applies to European countries such as Spain, Italy and Germany. In Germany, there was therefore both an imperially appointed nobility and a local nobility appointed by one independent prince, regardless of whether he had the title of king, prince, grand duke, duke or prince-bishop.
National nobility versus local nobility, created quite a few problems about who was the finest and had precedence.
The solution in Spain was that the title Grande was created which could only be granted to a nobleman by the Spanish king. It meant briefly that even a Spanish Grande Baron had a higher rank than a local Duke of e.g. Castile or Catalonia.
In Germany, "German-Roman RIGS - prince, duke or count" was added, which separated those who had a seat in the imperial council from those who did not. In Denmark it became the addition LENS – count and baron. After all, the principalities of many German-Roman princes often consisted of several underlying independent smaller county princes and there with "smaller federal principalities" with the prince as spokesman and head.
In 1864, the German federal state consisted of a total of 35 independent principalities, which was a sharp reduction from the over 1,000 barely 300 years earlier. It also created conflicts of interest when, for example, the Danish king since 1487 and the Swedish king since 1648 also had a seat in the German Reichstag, as German sheriffs. Therefore, the right of decision was reduced so that the entire Riksdag did not have to be involved in every decision. However, kingdom districts were established, which were the regional groups of smaller county principalities within the kingdom. It was also difficult to go to war against one's own Reichstag. But it happened against Denmark in both 1848-52 and in 1864.
The Japanese model can be compared to the German model with confederation of prefectures until 1884. If we compare population figures from "then" in 1873, Japan's population was approx. 35 million, which was approx. 31 million in the UK, approx. 38 million in France, approx. 42 million in the USA, approx. 42 million in Germany and almost 2 million in Denmark.
Gross National Product was SIGNIFICANTLY less for all agricultural and trading countries in the 17th and 19th centuries than it is in the heavily industrialized society today. The higher GDP has created welfare and wealth for far more people in the middle and upper classes than was the case before. It also means that if we compare a GDP in 1671 with the purchasing power of today, the figures become far more impressive, but also understandable in the present.
The figures are still impressive for most people, but comparing a Denmark with approx. 375,000 Tdr. Hartkorn and Japan with 26,000,000 Koku in 1671, with the purchasing power of today, does not fully understand HOW wealthy and what the incomes were THEN for the nobility, and thus the real purchasing power THERE.
But we can illustrate that with this example. Japan today accounts for approx. 8 % and Denmark for 0.5 % of the entire world's GDP. 10,000 koku stands for approx. 8 million USD in "value" today. But if we compare with GDP today, 10,000 Koku is approx. 0.4 % of Japan's total GDP in 1671. 0.4 % of Japan's current GDP corresponds to 133 billion. DKK.!, which is an expression of "purchasing power today".
It also explains more logically how a typical Daimyo – Japanese feudal lord had his own professional army and could pay for it.
During the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), a Daimyo's army typically consisted of Hatamoto samurai (lieutenant lords - higher officers) and Go-kenin (knights, officers), who were knights as vassal samurai. They were all full-time professional elite soldiers who ordered nothing but perfecting their martial arts skills. They were fearsome elite warriors. History shows that they were far superior to both the Chinese, Korean and Okinawan elite fighters of the time and often 10:1 was no problem. It was something special in world history.
Especially since samurai were not only limited to men, but women were also expected to be able to defend the home, understand and be bushido - the way of the warrior. male samurai. All high-noble women were top-trained samurai with the best teaching skills, and therefore there were many samurai women or samurai women's corps, who were extremely feared on the battlefield. They were something special in world history.
For each samurai, there were typically around 6 ashigaru (foot soldiers who were called up when needed and for ongoing military army training. It was usually normal for an ashigaru to go through a full-time soldier course with a service of typically 3-5 year.
An ashigaru, unlike a samurai, was not usually multi-tracked in his martial arts skills. They were trained multi-track for a few years, after which they became specialised. The specialties were usually spears (yari) and muskets (firearms).
After the end of service and training, it was expected that the Ashigaru soldier maintained his training and developed and further developed his skills "every weekend". Today, one ashigaru training would be comparable to an elite Olympic training - but back then it was ordinary training and skill level.
For an Ashigaru, it was also an opportunity for social ascension during war if he excelled. He could rise to the samurai class, like Go-kenin and Hatamoto. Some very very few became Daimyo.
The most famous case was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was effectively absolute king over all of Japan from c. 1583-1598, but could not get the title Shogun because he did not have Seiwa Minamoto blood in years. He himself put an end to anyone being able to imitate him for more than 300 years.
It wasn't until 1884 that it happened again. These were highly political appointments unprecedented in 2,600 years of Japanese history.
Why? Because it was a regular military coup, which was later supported by Emperor Meiji of barely 15 years from 1868.
The emperor and his court nobility Kuge saw an opportunity to regain power after 800 years, and for that they had to use some "muscle". They got that in the four big "Shogun enemy daimyo's" from southern Japan; Shimazu (Satsuma), Nabeshima (Tosa), Mori (Choshu) and Yamauchi (Hizen), who saw their cut to overthrow the existing Tokugawa Shogun rule.
This meant that almost all important Meiji government and military positions until 1912+ were occupied exclusively by the above. As there were plenty of national positions to be filled, this meant that the entire civil service from the administration of the four sheriffs was "raised by the emperor" to be at the national level!
At the same time, they write a new German-Prussian inspired constitution in 1889, where the emperor is the supreme divine power. But he is absolutely not expected to exercise it! This must be done through the emperor's supreme council, called Genro.
Genro consists of 9 people. One is Kuge (Hofadel), the rest are gentry officials from the county principalities; Satsuma and Choshu, and they decide who will be what, including Prime Minister of Japan and forming a government, - despite first free elections in 1890 with a new lower and upper house.
Genro is de facto Japan's true seat of power until Emperor Meiji dies in 1912. The last Genro dies in 1940.
It was a huge upheaval in Japan! Those who were considered "outside Japan" suddenly became absolute rulers.
You can compare it to Denmark suddenly turning upside down. Outside Denmark decides! Åbenraa, Tønder, Ærø and Langeland municipalities become absolute rulers, supported by Queen Margrethe - and discreetly backed by the military forces of England, France, Germany, the USA and Russia. All the municipal officials from these municipalities occupy all the top civilian as military posts in Denmark.
At the same time, they create a new royal high nobility, where they have borrowed Queen Margrethe's stamp of Denmark and they distribute themselves exorbitantly. The mayors of your municipalities become dukes, municipal directors become marquises, department heads become counts, section heads become viscounts and office managers become barons and everyone in Genro becomes princes! Such!
Since their background is civil servants, they do not have any distinguished family history and family fortune. This is a big problem, as a certain standard of living is expected to come with their new titles of nobility. But here they unexpectedly have some super allies; Kuge (Hofadelen).
The court nobility has always had fine imperial titles of nobility, but no money. So here, too, a solution must be found, as Kuge will of course also want their share of the cake. So a solution must be found that will suit their new fine Meiji nobility.
They therefore grant themselves a very good and fat government salary with many benefits, such as free housing, DSB and SAS free card, and they can now - yes, live like "counts and barons" with their noses in the clouds.
They just have one big problem.
They are not considered real nobles by 99.9 % of Japan's population, the uranobilty who were frowned upon, and the emperor.
It turned out that the generations after the first noble title creation often felt the same, later scientific studies have shown. Nor was it nor is Eastern and Japanese custom and cultural tradition, where the main focus is on the history of your family and honoring your ancestors. But it was the time of the revolution, when Japan sought Western inspiration and went from medieval to superpower in just a few decades.
The new Meiji nobility from 1884 -1947 is therefore perceived in Japan as a "fake nobility" - unless they are actually old nobility.
But it actually started really promising and fair.
In 1869, the two separate noble classes were united into one noble class; Kazoku. The court nobility – Kuge consisted of 148 families and the warrior nobility; Daimyo princes, consisted of 288 families and 33 Shinto and Buddhist "bishops" who all came from the imperial family. 469 noble families were now one noble class.
It seemed to all the noble families to be an acceptable measure when it could not be otherwise. In addition, all of the 469 "new" Kazoku noble families still held their ancient imperial titles of rank, based on their families' historical contributions to Japan over many hundreds of years and for some thousands of years.
As previously mentioned, all noble Kuge families were given very high titles as compensation for lower wages and wealth, paid by the Emperor. They lived handsomely in the emperor's buildings, but they were not given very much money to maintain their lives and expectations of living expenses.
The Kugyo records, which are the list of the imperial salaries for Kuge, show that the vast majority received 100-500 koku per year. The top was the Konoe family with 1,470 koku.
This is in stark contrast to their counterpart, the warrior nobility, where the lowest-ranking Daimyo lord prince had at least 10,000 koku a year and plenty of real power. The shogun had almost 7,000,000 koku.
In return, the emperor made sure that Kuge was often given a higher rank than the lords, including the shogun! But in the East, all is not what it seems!
It was therefore important for the kuge court nobility that they retained their high rank, but now also secured a high fixed salary income - and therefore they initially supported the new nobility that was introduced in 1884. All kuge were given the titles duke, marquis and count, even though in the past most people could hardly afford "butter on their bread" when all expenses were paid. But thanks to the new generous wage support schemes and the fact that the emperor "ordered" them to do so, there was a court nobility here who won big from the new "Genro" reforms.
The "New Title Losers" were certainly the old warrior nobility; the 288 Daimyo fiefs. For the most part, they officially served the Tokugawa shoguns since 1601, but de facto all functioned as "little kings" for 300 years with their own army and county administration.
From 1869, all were members of the combined Kazoku high nobility and all had imperial titles of rank, - which were usually lower than kuge, although the family tree was equally fine or finer. But all, without exception, were quite wealthy.
As newly appointed governors of their old counties, they received a salary of 10 % of the county's previous earnings, after everything had been paid from 1869-1871. Later they were issued government bonds equivalent to 5 times their county's koku annual earnings with a yield of 5-8 % pa It was a pretty good business and quite a few became multi-billionaires overnight in Japanese government bonds. In addition, most of them already had considerable and many reasonable fortunes. However, some were totally in debt. So the new economic regulation fell in a dry place. This money helped start the industrial revolution in Japan, and therefore many of the old sheriff families have a particularly powerful social position today. Eg. became a former lieutenant in line, Prime Minister of Japan in 1994.
The biggest losers were the samurai class (gentry), which was approx. 4 % of the Japanese population. They lost their koku earnings, despite getting Japanese government bonds. However, it was not particularly lucrative and most had sold them to survive after a few years of ownership.
In the summer of 1884, the new Meiji nobility was established and imperially appointed. There was, to say the least, a very strong bias. In fact, the pre-distribution was so bad that up to 70 % of all new noble title creations from 1884-1944 were completely new noble patent creations originating from the four former domains and noble Kuge. 1/3 was from the Daimyo fiefs. More than 50 % of the Daimyo lords were given no titles – They suddenly became untitled Kazoku nobility. Others were given lower Meiji titles than the official rules prescribed. It was especially the families of the sheriffs who were the Tokugawa Shogun's direct and most trusted vassals of the sheriffs. Some were appointed Meiji barons, where they should have been Meiji Marquises or Meiji Dukes. It was part of the political game when these Meiji titles of nobility gave firm seats in the new; House of Lords. But the more they "fell to the breast", the higher and faster they rose in Meiji titles.
However, most of them got some of the new Meiji titles after a few years in the "crook of shame", - but at the same time had the old imperial titles of rank. It created grotesque situations. The last Shogun Tokugawa didn't get a duke title until 1902! This meant that he was the supreme clan head of the Tokugawa family for several Meiji dukes, Meiji marquises, Meiji counts, etc., - but he had no Meiji title himself and according to "Genro" had to walk at the back of imperial processions, including his own family, of which he was the head for!
But - it was not a problem for the old Daimyo lord families, as they simply "followed the flow to survive" and they had a deep contempt for the new Meiji titles, which by the way Emperor Meiji himself also had! In addition, they still had money – a lot of money, which was invested in building the new Japan. Especially the Kazoku ura nobility before the 16th century (approx. 5-10 %) originating from the Seiwa-Genji of the Imperial Family and head kuge of the Fujiwara Imperial Family, had very strong resistance. However, most were forced into the new Meiji titles by order of Emperor Meiji so that Genro could legitimize and shine a light on the new Meiji titles. The old primordial felt they had a legitimate right to this distance, as they had served Japan for thousands of years and helped create up to 2,600 years of history, and that part descended from the imperial family and were therefore considered "semi-divine families". Therefore, Seiwa Genji Minamoto and Fujuwara Kuge are considered the most distinguished families and nobility in Japan today. You can still today experience being treated like a "royal rock star" if you belong to one of these "semi-divine families", which are constantly being made movies, TV series, video and computer games, researched and written about.
The new Meiji titles were Genro – the political craft of the Imperial Council, as most after 1947 called; politically motivated machinations. But they had an important co-player; The emperor. It was still limited what he actually decided, but he became the "glue and rallying point" that made the entire Meiji reformation the success it became in an ultra-short time. Remember that Japan went from the Middle Ages to the most powerful nation in the East, which after only 20 years could beat Korea and China, and in 1904 sank the entire Russian fleet!
SamuraiViking officers – As the general and military strategist Sun Tsu said; "He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight, and Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."
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