Kanpaku - Kanpaku

An important position that assists the emperor and leads the various officials to execute the great government. It is also called Hakuroku, due to the story of Hakuroku Hou Huoguang, the Marquis of Hakuroku, who assisted the young emperor in the Western Han Dynasty in China. The word first appeared in an imperial edict given by Emperor Uda to the Grand Minister of State Fujiwara no Mototsune in 887 (Ninna 3), meaning to be involved in petitions from the various officials and to express opinions, and gradually became the title of the position. From the time of Emperor Reizei (reigned 967-969), it became customary to appoint a regent while the emperor was a child and a chancellor after he grew up, and he became the de facto highest position in the imperial court and was also called "the one." In terms of the system, the regent acts as the emperor's representative, while the kanpaku remains in the position of advisor, but there is little difference in actual political power between them.

The position of regent was monopolized by the Northern branch of the Fujiwara clan, and it was customary for the head of the Fujiwara clan to also hold the position of choja. This was passed down to his descendants, especially after Fujiwara Michinaga, and from the Kamakura period onwards, the five regent families of Konoe, Kujo, Nijo, Ichijo and Takatsukasa held the position alternately, but it was abolished at the time of the restoration of imperial rule at the end of the Edo period. It was completely unusual for Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Hidetsugu, father and son, to become regents in the early modern period. The former regent was called Taiko, and there was a position equivalent to regent called Nairan.

[Yoshihiko Hashimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

天皇を補佐し、百官を率いて大政を執行する重職。中国前漢の博陸侯霍光(はくろくこうかくこう)が幼帝を補佐した故事により、博陸ともいう。百官の上奏に関(あずか)り、意見を白(もう)すという意味で、887年（仁和3）宇多(うだ)天皇が太政(だいじょう)大臣藤原基経(もとつね)に賜った勅書にこのことばが初めてみえ、しだいにその職名となった。冷泉(れいぜい)天皇（在位967～969）のころから、天皇幼少の間は摂政(せっしょう)を、成長後は関白を置くのが慣例となり、事実上朝廷最高の地位となって、「一(いち)の人(ひと)」ともよばれた。なお制度上は、摂政が天皇の代理人的立場にあるのに対し、関白は補佐の地位にとどまるが、政治上の実権にはほとんど差異を認められない。

　摂関の職は藤原氏北家(ほっけ)に独占され、藤原氏長者(ちょうじゃ)を兼帯するのが常例となり、ことに藤原道長(みちなが)以後はその子孫に伝えられ、鎌倉時代以降は近衛(このえ)、九条(くじょう)、二条、一条、鷹司(たかつかさ)の五摂家が交互にこの地位についたが、幕末王政復古に際して廃止された。近世初頭豊臣秀吉(とよとみひでよし)・秀次(ひでつぐ)父子が関白になったのはまったくの異例である。なお、前関白を太閤(たいこう)といい、関白に准ずる地位に内覧(ないらん)がある。

［橋本義彦］

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