Council of Five Elders

In the history of Japan, the Council of Five Elders (Japanese: 五大老, Hepburn: Go-Tairō) was a group of five powerful feudal lords (大名, daimyō) formed in 1598 by the Regent (太閤, Taikō) Toyotomi Hideyoshi, shortly before his death the same year.^[1] While Hideyoshi was on his deathbed, his son, Toyotomi Hideyori, was still only five years old and as such Hideyoshi needed to create the council in order to ensure his heir would be able to succeed him after coming of age. They also acted as advisers for the Five Commissioners (五奉行, Go-Bugyō), which had also been established by Hideyoshi to govern Kyoto and the surrounding areas.^[2]

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