Sadaijin

Sadaijin (Japanese左 大臣, historical Kun - reading Hidari no Ohoimauchigimi or Hidari no Otodo ), usually translated as " Chancellor on the left ," was a government official in Japan in the late Nara and Heian period. It was created in 702 by the Taiho Code as part of the Daijō -kan structure.

The Sadaijin was the chief Minister of State, the supervision of all branches of the Department of State (太 政 官, Daijō -kan ) was responsible, which regulated all worldly affairs of the kingdom. The Udaijin (Minister to the right ) was his deputy.

In the system of Daijō -kan, was the Sadaijin in power and influence only under the Daijō daijin (Great Minister or Grand Chancellor ). Often a member of the Fujiwara family had held this influential post, to justify the influence and power of this family and exercise.

The Sadaijin lost with the entire Daijō -kan structure over the 10th and 11th centuries gradually in power since the Fujiwara dominated the politics more and more. The system was already powerless at the end of the 12th century, when the warrior Minamoto family of the court nobles ( Kuge ) wrested control of the country.

The centuries only ceremonial Daijō -kan was revived at the beginning of the Meiji era for a short time before it was replaced by a modern western-style management. The last Sadaijin was HRH Prince Arisugawa Taruhito until 1885, when the Meiji emperor modernized the Government and the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan (内阁 総 理 大臣, naikaku Sori daijin ) created and the title Sadaijin officially abolished.

Source

• Sansom, George. A History of Japan to 1334 Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 1958