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Council of Five Elders
 
 
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The council of five elders, also known as the five Tairo (??? go-tairo), was formed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a Sengoku period daimyo who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, after Hideyoshi's castle....
 to rule Japan in the place of his son, Hideyori
Toyotomi Hideyori

Toyotomi Hideyori , 1593 - June 5, 1615, was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan....
, until such time as he came of age. Hideyoshi chose his five most powerful daimyo
Daimyo

The were powerful territorial lords who ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. The term derives from a shortening of the title , which literally means "great named land" and originally simply referred to the owner of a large estate....
: Ukita Hideie
Ukita Hideie

Ukita Hideie was the daimyo of Bizen Province and Mimasaka Province provinces , and one of the council of Five Elders appointed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi....
, Maeda Toshiie
Maeda Toshiie

was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi-Momoyama period. His father was Maeda Toshimasa....
, Uesugi Kagekatsu
Uesugi Kagekatsu

Uesugi Kagekatsu was a daimyo during the Sengoku period and Edo period of History of Japan. The son of Nagao Masakage and husband of Uesugi Kenshin's elder sister....
, Mori Terumoto
Mori Terumoto

Mori Terumoto was the son of Mori Takamoto and grandson and successor of the great warlord Mori Motonari, fought against Toyotomi Hideyoshi but was eventually overcome, participated in the Kyushu campaign on Hideyoshi's side and built Hiroshima Castle....
, and the famous Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu

Japanese name|Tokugawa}} was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868....
. (Kobayakawa Takakage
Kobayakawa Takakage

Kobayakawa Takakage was a samurai retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi during Japan's Sengoku period, and the son of Mori Motonari. Adopted by the head of the Kobayakawa clan, Takakage took his name, and succeeded his adoptive father to become head of the Kobayakawa clan following his death in 1545....
 was also to have been one of the elders, but died before Hideyoshi himself.)

It was Hideyoshi's hope that the members of the council would balance each other, preventing any one of them from taking control.






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The council of five elders, also known as the five Tairo (??? go-tairo), was formed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a Sengoku period daimyo who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, after Hideyoshi's castle....
 to rule Japan in the place of his son, Hideyori
Toyotomi Hideyori

Toyotomi Hideyori , 1593 - June 5, 1615, was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan....
, until such time as he came of age. Hideyoshi chose his five most powerful daimyo
Daimyo

The were powerful territorial lords who ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. The term derives from a shortening of the title , which literally means "great named land" and originally simply referred to the owner of a large estate....
: Ukita Hideie
Ukita Hideie

Ukita Hideie was the daimyo of Bizen Province and Mimasaka Province provinces , and one of the council of Five Elders appointed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi....
, Maeda Toshiie
Maeda Toshiie

was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi-Momoyama period. His father was Maeda Toshimasa....
, Uesugi Kagekatsu
Uesugi Kagekatsu

Uesugi Kagekatsu was a daimyo during the Sengoku period and Edo period of History of Japan. The son of Nagao Masakage and husband of Uesugi Kenshin's elder sister....
, Mori Terumoto
Mori Terumoto

Mori Terumoto was the son of Mori Takamoto and grandson and successor of the great warlord Mori Motonari, fought against Toyotomi Hideyoshi but was eventually overcome, participated in the Kyushu campaign on Hideyoshi's side and built Hiroshima Castle....
, and the famous Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu

Japanese name|Tokugawa}} was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868....
. (Kobayakawa Takakage
Kobayakawa Takakage

Kobayakawa Takakage was a samurai retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi during Japan's Sengoku period, and the son of Mori Motonari. Adopted by the head of the Kobayakawa clan, Takakage took his name, and succeeded his adoptive father to become head of the Kobayakawa clan following his death in 1545....
 was also to have been one of the elders, but died before Hideyoshi himself.)

It was Hideyoshi's hope that the members of the council would balance each other, preventing any one of them from taking control. This was not to be, however: almost immediately after Hideyoshi's death in 1598, the elders swiftly divided themselves into two camps, consisting of 'Tokugawa' and 'everybody else'. War did not actually break out until mid-1600; it ended the same year, at the Battle of Sekigahara
Battle of Sekigahara

The , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Though it would take three more years for Ieyasu to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the daimyo, Sekigahara is widely considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate,...
, ending in an uneasy peace that left Hideyori alive and in control of Osaka Castle
Osaka Castle

is a Japanese castle in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.Originally called Ozakajo, it is one of Japan's most famous castles, and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period....
.