Fujiwara Chancellors and Imperial Regents, 858-1887; Prime Ministers of Japan, 1885-present

Regent, Sesshô	Chancellor, Kampaku	Dates
Fujiwara Yoshifusa		858-872
Fujiwara Mototsune		872-880
	Fujiwara Mototsune	880-890
Fujiwara Tadahira		930-941
	Fujiwara Tadahira	941-949
	Fujiwara Saneyori	967-970
Fujiwara Saneyori		969-970
Fujiwara Koretada		970-972
	Fujiwara Kanemichi	972-977
	Fujiwara Yoritada	977-986
Fujiwara Kaneie		986-990
	Fujiwara Kaneie	990
	Fujiwara Michitaka	990
Fujiwara Michitaka		990-993
	Fujiwara Michitaka	993-995
	Fujiwara Michikane	995
Fujiwara Michinaga		1016-1017
Fujiwara Yorimichi		1017-1019
	Fujiwara Yorimichi	1019-1067
	Fujiwara Norimichi	1068-1075
	Fujiwara Morozane	1075-1086
Fujiwara Morozane		1086-1090
	Fujiwara Morozane	1090-1094
	Fujiwara Moromichi	1094-1099
	Fujiwara Tadazane	1105-1107
Fujiwara Tadazane		1107-1113
	Fujiwara Tadazane	1113-1121
	Fujiwara Tadamichi	1121-1123
Fujiwara Tadamichi		1123-1129
	Fujiwara Tadamichi	1129-1141
Fujiwara Tadamichi		1141-1150
	Fujiwara Tadamichi	1150-1158
	Konoe Motozane	1158-1165
Konoe Motozane		1165-1166
Fujiwara Motofusa		1166-1172
	Fujiwara Motofusa	1172-1179
	Konoe Motomichi	1179-1180
Konoe Motomichi		1180-1183
Fujiwara Moroie		1183-1184
Konoe Motomichi		1184-1186
Kujô Kanezane		1186-1191
	Kujô Kanezane	1191-1196
	Konoe Motomichi	1196-1198
Konoe Motomichi		1198-1202
Kujô Yoshitsune		1202-1206
	Konoe Iezane	1206-1221
Kujô Michiie		1221
Konoe Iezane		1221-1223
	Konoe Iezane	1223-1228
	Kujô Michiie	1228-1231
	Kujô Norizane	1231-1232
Kujô Norizane		1232-1235
Kujô Michiie		1235-1237
Konoe Kanetsune		1237-1242
	Konoe Kanetsune	1242
	Nijô Yoshizane	1242-1246
	Ichijô Sanetsune	1246
Ichijô Sanetsune		1246-1247
Kanoe Kanetsune		1247-1252
Takatsukasa Kanehira		1252-1254
	Takatsukasa Kanehira	1254-1261
	Nijô Yoshizane	1261-1265
	Ichijô Sanetsune	1265-1267
Regent, Sesshô	Chancellor, Kampaku	Dates
	Konoe Motohira	1267-1268
	Takatsukasa Mototada	1268-1273
	Kujô Tadaie	1273-1274
Kujô Tadaie		1274
Ichijô Ietsune		1274-1275
Takatsukasa Kanehira		1275-1278
	Takasukasa Kanehira	1278-1287
	Nijô Morotada	1287-1289
	Konoe Iemoto	1289-1291
	Kujô Tadamori	1291-1293
	Konoe Iemoto	1293-1296
	Takatsukasa Kanetada	1296-1298
Takatsukasa Kanetada		1298
Nijô Kanemoto		1298-1300
	Nijô Kanemoto	1300-1305
	Kujô Moronori	1305-1308
Kujô Moronori		1308
Takatsukasa Fuyuhira		1308-1311
	Takatsukasa Fuyuhira	1311-1313
	Konoe Iehira	1313-1315
	Takatsukasa Fuyuhira	1315-1316
	Nijô Michihira	1316-1318
	Ichijô Uchitsune	1318-1323
	Kujô Fusazane	1323-1324
	Takatsukasa Fuyuhira	1324-1327
	Nijô Michihira	1327-1330
	Takatsukasa Tsunatada	1330
	Takatsukasa Fuyunori	1330-1333
	Konoe Tsunetada	1336-1337
	Konoe Mototsugu	1337-1338
	Ichijô Tsunemichi	1338-1342
	Kujô Michinori	1342
	Takatsukasa Morohira	1342-1346
	Nijô Yoshimoto	1346-1358
	Kujô Tsunenori	1358-1361
	Konoe Michitsugu	1361-1363
	Nijô Yoshimoto	1363-1367
	Takatsukasa Fuyumichi	1367-1369
	Nijô Moroyoshi	1369-1375
	Kujô Tadamoto	1375-1379
	Nijô Morotsugu	1379-1382
Nijô Yoshimoto		1382-1387
Konoe Kanetsugu		1387-1388
Nijô Yoshimoto		1388
	Nijô Morotsugu	1388-1394
	Ichijô Tsunetsugu	1394-1398
	Nijô Morotsugu	1398-1399
	Ichijô Tsunetsugu	1399-1408
	Konoe Tadatsugu	1408-1409
	Nijô Mitsumoto	1409-1410
	Ichijô Tsunetsugu	1410-1418
	Kujô Mistunori	1418-1424
	Nijô Mochimoto	1424-1428
Nijô Mochimoto		1428-1432
Ichijô Kaneyoshi		1432
Nijô Mochimoto		1432-1433
	Nijô Mochimoto	1433-1445
	Konoe Fusatsugu	1445-1447
	Ichijô Kaneyoshi	1447-1453
	Nijô Mochimichi	1453-1454
	Takatsukasa Fusahira	1454-1455
	Nijô Mochimichi	1455-1458
	Ichijô Norifusa	1458-1463
	Nijô Mochimichi	1463-1467
	Ichijô Kaneyoshi	1467-1470
	Nijô Masatsugu	1470-1476
	Kujô Masamoto	1476-1479
	Konoe Masaie	1479-1483
	Takatsukasa Masahira	1483-1487
	Kujô Masatada	1487-1488
	Ichijô Fuyuyoshi	1488-1493
	Konoe Naomichi	1493-1496
	Ichijô Naomoto	1497
	Konoe Naomichi	1513-1514
	Takatsukasa Kanesuke	1514-1518
	Nijô Tadafusa	1518-1525
	Konoe Taneie	1525-1533
	Kujô Tanemichi	1533-1534
	Nijô Tadafusa	1534-1536
	Konoe Taneie	1536-1542
	Takatsukasa Tadafuyu	1542-1545
	Ichijô Fusamichi	1545-1548
	Nijô Haruyoshi	1548-1553
	Ichijô Kanefuyu	1553-1554
	Konoe Harutsugu	1554-1568
	Nijô Haruyoshi	1568-1578
	Kujô Kanetaka	1578-1581
	Ichiô Uchimoto	1581-1584
	Nijô Akizane	1585
	Toyotomi Hideyoshi	1585-1591
	Toyotomi Hidetsugu	1591-1595
	Kujô Kanetaka	1600-1604
	Konoe Nobutada	1605-1606
	Takatsukasa Nobufusa	1606-1608
	Kujô Tadasaka	1608-1612
	Takatsukasa Nobunao	1612-1615
	Nijô Akizane	1615-1619
	Kujô Tadasaka	1619-1623
	Konoe Nobuhiro	1623-1629
	Ichijô Kanetô	1629
Ichijô Kanetô		1629-1634
Nijô Yasumichi		1635-1647
Kujô Michifusa		1647
Ichijô Akiyoshi		1647
	Ichijô Akiyoshi	1647-1651
	Konoe Naotsugu	1651-1653
	Nijô Mitsuhira	1653-1663
Nijô Mitsuhira		1663-1664
Takatsukasa Fusasuke		1664-1668
	Takatsukasa Fusasuke	1668-1682
	Ichijô Fuyutsune	1682-1687
Ichijô Fuyutsune		1687-1689
	Ichijô Fuyutsune	1689-1690
	Konoe Motohiro	1690-1703
	Takatsukasa Kanehiro	1703-1707
	Konoe Iehiro	1707-1709
Konoe Iehiro		1709-1712
Kujô Sukezane		1712-1716
	Kujô Sukezane	1716-1722
	Nijô Tsunahira	1722-1726
	Konoe Iehisa	1726-1736
	Nijô Yoshitada	1736-1737
	Ichijô Kaneka	1737-1746
	Ichijô Michika	1746-1747
Ichijô Michika		1747-1755
	Ichijô Michika	1755-1757
	Konoe Uchizaki	1757-1762
Konoe Uchizaki		1762-1772
	Konoe Uchizaki	1772-1778
	Kujô Naozane	1778-1779
Kujô Naozane		1779-1785
	Kujô Naozane	1785-1787
	Takatsukasa Sukehira	1787-1791
	Ichijô Teruyoshi	1791-1795
	Takatsukasa Masahiro	1795-1814
	Ichijô Tadayoshi	1814-1823
	Takatsukasa Masamichi	1823-1856
	Kujô Naotada	1856-1862
	Konoe Tadahiro	1862-1863
	Takatsukasa	1863
	Nijô Naritoshi	1863-1867
Nijô Naritoshi		1867-1868

This wonderful list is entirely from The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature, by Earl Miner, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell [Princeton University Press, 1985, 1988], p. 463-467.

Stretching from the time of Emperor Charles the Bald to President Andrew Johnson, this list, as few things can, provides a vivid testament to the continuity of custom and tradition in Japan. The offices, originally symbolic of the passing of real power from the Emperors to the Fujiwaras, later become largely symbolic themselves, as power passes to Cloistered Emperors, Shôguns, and even Regents of Shôguns.

Starting in 1158 individuals from branch lines of the Fujiwara appear in the offices. These are the "five regent families" (the gosekke -- Konoe, Kujô, Nijô, Takasukasa, & Ichijô), and they alone would soon be considered for these offices, with the sole exceptions of the two Toyotomis. Also, until very recently, wives for the Emperors were supposed to come from these families.

Down to 1267, the genealogy of the Fujiwara, with the beginning of the regent families, can be examined in a popup diagram. The genealogy is from the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, Volume 2 [Kodansha Ltd., 1983, p.369]. This is at present just the stetch of a diagram. The women near the top of the diagram are those who became consorts of Emperors. More women can be added and the Emperors identified to fill out the genealogy. Other Fujiwara, besides those who became Regents or Chancellors, can also be added.

The first Fujiwara is Kamatari. In 644, under the Empress Kôgyoku (642-645), he helped purge members of the Soga clan. With the Soga gone, Kamatari became the supporter of the new Emperor Kôtoku (645-654), ushering in the Yamato Period (645-711). Kôtoku granted Kamatari and his descendants the name Fujiwara. The family divides into a number of branches, the most important of which is the Hokke or Northern house. Yoshifusa (d.872) ushers in the heyday of the Fujiwara. With a sister and daughter married to Emperors, when his young grandson comes to the throne as the Emperor Seiwa, Yoshifusa inaugurates a Regency. Seiwa reigns but Yoshifusa rules. His nephew and adopted son Mototsune (d.891) refines and extends this system. First, an Emperor, like Seiwa himself, can be persuaded to retire, with a Regency then continuing for a new minor Emperor, in this case Yôzei (858). Or, as subsequently with Yôzei, the Regency may be ended but the arrangement of rule continued through a new office, that of Kampaku or Chancellor (in 880 or 882). This becomes the mechanism of Fujiwara power:  (1) Fujiwara mothers for the Emperors, (2) early retirement for Emperors, (3) Regencies for minor Emperors, and (4) the Chancellorship for Emperors between their minority and their retirement. This system continued to dominate the government until the Cloistered Emperors began excerising authority in their own right (with Shirakawa in 1086) and then, finally, when the war between the Taira and the Minamoto was ended at Dan-no-Ura in 1185 -- then the samurai Shôguns (or the Hôjô Regents) began exercising the real power of the government. Nevertheless, the institution of Regents, Chancellors, and even Cloistered Emperors continued down to the Meiji Restoration. Only Fujiwaras (and then the five regent families) were qualified for Imperial marriages, Regencies, or, except for the Toyotomis, the Chancellorship.

The maintenance of titular authority while real power is exercised elsewhere becomes a striking characteristic of Japanese government. The assumption by Hideyoshi of the office of Chancellor represented a moment when a traditional office might have been revived with real authority; but then Ieyasu was content to return the Kyôto government to its traditions, while taking for himself the Shôgunate -- from which he quickly retired (1605) but continued to direct events, like the reduction of Osaka Castle in 1615. The Fujiwara regent families thus played out the roles created by Yoshifusa and Mototsune all the way to 1867.

The difference between titular and real power, however, continues as a serious question into the 20th century. Were Emperors like Meiji and Hirohito constitutional figureheads or active and involved rulers? The forms of Japanese government served to enclose and obscure the authority they may actually have been exercising. This is of interest with Meiji but becomes a most important question with Hirohito, whose involvement and responsibility for the policies and actions of the Japanese government leading up and into World War II are a matter now hotly disputed. The post-war representation was that he had always been, consciously, a British style Monarch who merely reigned. Only on the rarest of occasions would he even express an opinion, and he only directed specific policy in one case, when he ordered the War to be ended. Subsequently, charges have been made that the Emperor actually masterminded all of Japanese aggression, directing policy and commanding actions as much as Hitler or Mussolini. This seemed rather wild at the time, but subsequent research has seemed to show that Hirohito, at least, was rather more involved in things than the official story allowed. Be that as it may, the very uncertainty of it is of a piece with Japanese history -- even as we see exactly six hundred years (1267-1867) of relatively powerless Fujiwaras in the table.

In August 1854 the Shogunate decided that Japanese ships would fly a flag with a red sun (the , "circle of the sun") on a white background. This then became the modern flag of Japan.

Prince Arisugawa Taruhito	Sôsai, President, 1868-1869
	Sadaijin, Minister of the Left, 1880-1885
Sanjô Sanetomi	Udaijin, Minister of the Right, 1868-1874, Dajô-daijin, Prime Minister, 1874-1885
Iwakura Tomomi	Prime Minister, 1874; Udaijin, Minister of the Right, d.1883

Theoretically, there might be a continuous succession from the Edo Chancellors to modern Prime Ministers; but it took a little while to get the forms of a modern Government organized, so there is not formally a modern cabinet with a "President of Ministers" until 1885. However, when the proclamation of the resumption of Imperial Rule was made on 4 January 1868, and the Shogunate and Regency abolished, the office of Sôsai, "President," was created and conferred on an Imperial Prince, Arisugawa Taruhito (1835-1895). This clearly made Prince Taruhito the formal Head of Government, and it was not simply a figurehead position, since the Prince subsequently became commander of the armies that subdued Tokugawa resistance and occupied Edo. However, the office of Sôsai was then abolished in May 1869. This left the question Who was the Head of Government? The recent Emperor of Japan, Meiji and His World, 1952-1912 by Donald Keene [Columbia University Press, 2002] leaves this matter rather obscure. Keene says that in August 1869 Sanjô Sanetomi (1837-1891) was appointed "minister of the right" (Udaijin) one of the old Imperial Court offices copied from the Chinese Court [p.183]. However, one of the next references to Sanjô is as "prime minister," in the context that he was replaced, because of illness, by Iwakura Tomomi (1825-1883) [p.234]. This seems to have only been a temporary replacement, because Sanjô is again referred to as Prime Minister in the discussion of subsequent events. Iwakura is himself called "minister of the right" [pp.254 & 267]. In the index, Sanjô is identified as "vice president" [p.911] and Iwakura as "assistant president" [p.894]. Keene does not give or discuss the Japanese versions of these titles, or when Sanjô would have been elevated to Prime Minister. I have been able to resolve some of these interesting ambiguities. The Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan, by E. Papinot [1910, Charles E. Tuttle, 1972] says that Sanjô became Prime Minister, Dajô-daijin (again a Court title), in 1874 [p.539 -- Udaijin in 1868]. Iwakura's stint is not mentioned; and this still leaves a gap between 1869-1874 for who would have been Dajô-daijin or, in some other sense, Head of Government. Perhaps Sanjô, as Minister of the Right, was informally Head of Government, accounting for Keene's vagueness. What we certainly see happening in this, with the abandonment of the Shogunate and the Fujiwara office of Chancellor, Kampaku, is the reemergence of the offices of the Yamato Court. The Prime Ministership, Dajô-daijin, is supposed to have been created in 671 or 702. Thus, the lapse of the Fujiwara and Bakufu regimes leaves the Yamato offices as the default form of government. Then, in 1885, the government was reorganized, Court offices like Dajô-daijin, "minister of the right," or "minister of the left" were abolished, and Itô Hirobumi (1841-1909) became Prime Minister, Sôri-daijin, in an explicitly European style Cabinet (Naikaku). Thus, the precedent of European government now replaces that of the Yamato and Heian Court.

PRIME MINISTERS
Itô Hirobumi	December 1885-April 1888
Kuroda Kiyotaka	April 1888-December 1889
Yamagata Aritomo	December 1889-May 1891
Matsukata Masayoshi	May 1891-August 1892
Itô Hirobumi	August 1892-September 1896
Matsukata Masayoshi	September 1896-January 1898
Itô Hirobumi	January 1898-June 1898
Ôkuma Shigenobu	June 1898-November 1898
Yamagata Aritomo	November 1898-October 1900
Itô Hirobumi	October 1900-June 1901
Katsura Tarô	June 1901-January 1906
Saionji Kimmochi	January 1906-July 1908
Katsura Tarô	July 1908-August 1911
Saionji Kimmochi	August 1911-December 1912
Katsura Tarô	December 1912-February 1913
Adm. Yamamoto Gonnohyôe	February 1913-April 1914
Ôkuma Shigenobu	April 1914-October 1916
Gen. Terauchi Masatake	October 1916-September 1918
Hara Takashi	September 1918-November 1921, assassinated
Takahashi Korekiyo	November 1921-June 1922
Adm. Katô Tomosaburô	June 1922-September 1923
Adm. Yamamoto Gonnohyoe	September 1923-January 1924
Kiyoura Keigo	January 1924-June 1924
Katô Takaaki	June 1924-January 1926
Wakatsuki Reijirô	January 1926-April 1927
Gen. Tanaka Giichi	April 1927-July 1929
Hamaguchi Osachi	July 1929-April 1931, assassinated
Wakatsuki Reijiro	April 1931-December 1931
Inukai Tsuyoshi	December 1931-May 1932, assassinated
Adm. Saitô Makoto	May 1932-July 1934
Adm. Okada Keisuke	July 1934-March 1936, attempted assassination, Ni-niroku Jiken, "2/26 Incident"
Hirota Kôki	March 1936-February 1937
Gen. Hayashi Senjûrô	February 1937-June 1937
Konoe Fumimaro	June 1937-January 1939
Hiranuma Kiichirô	January 1939-August 1939
Gen. Abe Nobuyuki	August 1939-January 1940
Adm. Yonai Mitsumasa	January 1940-July 1940
Konoe Fumimaro	July 1940-October 1941
Gen. Tôjô Hideki	October 1941-July 1944
Gen. Koiso Kuniaki	July 1944-April 1945
Adm. Suzuki Kantarô	April 1945-August 1945, survivor of "2/26 Incident"
Higashikuni Naruhiko	August 1945-October 1945
Shidehara Kijûrô	October 1945-May 1946
Yoshida Shigeru	May 1946-May 1947
Katayama Tetsu	May 1947-March 1948
Ashida Hitoshi	March 1948-October 1948
Yoshida Shigeru	October 1948-December 1954
Hatoyama Ichirô	December 1954-December 1956
Ishibashi Tanzan	December 1956-February 1957
Kishi Nobusuke	February 1957-July 1960
Ikeda Hayato	July 1960-November 1964
Satô Eisaku	November 1964-July 1972
Tanaka Kakuei	July 1972-December 1974
Miki Takeo	December 1974-December 1976
Fukuda Takeo	December 1976-December 1978
Ôhira Masayoshi	December 1978-July 1980
Suzuki Zenko	July 1980-November 1982
Nakasone Yasuhiro	November 1982-November 1987
Takeshita Noboru	November 1987-June 1989
Uno Sosuke	June 1989-August 1989
Kaifu Toshiki	August 1989-November 1991
Miyazawa Kiichi	November 1991-August 1993
Hosokawa Morihiro	August 1993-April 1994
Hata Tsutomu	April 1994-June 1994
Murayama Tomiichi	June 1994-January 1996
Hashimoto Ryûtarô	January 1996-July 1998
Obuchi Keizô	July 1998-April 2000
Mori Yoshirô	April 2000-April 2001
Koizumi Junichiro	April 2001-September 2006
Abe Shinzo	September 2006-September 2007
Yasuo Fukuda	September 2007-September 2008
Taor Aso	September 2008-September 2009
Yukio Hatoyama	September 2009-June 2010
Naoto Kan	June 2010-September 2011
Yoshihiko Noda	September 2011-December 2012
Shinzô Abe	December 2012-September 2020
Yoshihide Suga	September 2020-present

Since Japan adopts a Constitution patterned after that of Prussia, the Prime Minister is not necessarily accountable to the Diet, but to the Emperor. What ended up happening is that, rather than choosing the other ministers, the Prime Ministers themselves were often those acceptable to the Army and the Navy, who scorned civilian authority and exercised vetoes on the rest of the Government. This ultimately had disastrous consequences, promoting militarism, military rule, and then wars of aggression.

Pre-World War II Prime Ministers who were assassinated are in boldface. Also highlighted are Prince Konoe, a familiar Fujiwara name, who committed suicide after the War rather than be tried as a war criminal, and General Tôjô, who attempted suicide for the same reason but failed, was convicted, and was hung.

Tôjô, it might be noted, resigned in 1944 after the loss of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, after which the Japanese realized that nothing could hold off the Allied advance on Japan.

Unlike Germany, where the Nazi government simply ceased to exist and the Allies divided and directly ruled Germany, a formal Japanese Government never ceased to exist during the Allied Occupation. A new Constitution was written, and Prime Minister Katayama was the first to govern under it. Now the Emperor had no theoretical power at all, not even as much as the Queen of England. He was no longer the Sovereign, and Japan was no longer an Empire. The Prime Minister was responsible to the Diet.

The Emperor is now just the "Symbol of the State," which is a status otherwise unheard of in the history of government. Although the reactionaries who want the Emperor restored as Sovereign have frightening purposes, it is also true that Japan will never return to being a "normal" country until its Consitution is commensurable with traditional norms of government, and Japan again has a proper Army and Navy, another goal of the reactionaries that would be reasonable if their purposes, again, could pass scrutiny.

Most Post-War Prime Ministers (since 1955) have been from the Liberal- Democratic Party, which people like to say is neither liberal nor democratic. Instead, Diet seats have tended to become hereditary, and Japanese government often seems to be little more than a system of influence-peddling. Consequently, corruption and bribery scandals are commonplace. Such a scandal led to the downfall of the familiar 1980's Prime Minister Nakasone, who got to preside over Japan's greatest period of world economic domination.

The 1990's were less good for Japan, whose prosperity turned out to be a little too much of a speculative bubble, with a great deal of capital based on inflated real estate values and fraudulent loans. Since almost nobody really believes in laissez-faire anymore, it always takes a long time for the economy to shake stuff like that off.

This list was originally based on the list of Japanese Prime Ministers at the Mizuho Financial Group site, which is now gone, and on the list in The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen [Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, 2000], updated from news sources and Wikipedia.