House of Peers (Japan)
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House of Peers 貴族院 Kizoku-in |
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Prince Fumimaro Konoe addressing the House of Peers in 1936, with the imperial throne in the background
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 6 March 1871 |
| Disbanded | 22 May 1947 |
| Succeeded by | House of Councillors |
| Seats | 251 (1889) 409 (at peak, 1938) 373 (1947) |
| Elections | |
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Last election
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1946 |
| Meeting place | |
| National Diet Building, Tokyo | |
The House of Peers (貴族院 Kizoku-in?) was the upper house of the Imperial Diet as mandated under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan (in effect from 11 February 1889 to 3 May 1947).
In 1869, under the new Meiji government, a Japanese peerage was created by an Imperial decree merging the former Court nobility (kuge) and former feudal lords (daimyo) into a single new class called the kazoku.
A second imperial ordinance in 1884 grouped the kazoku into five ranks equivalent to the European , prince (or duke), marquis, count, viscount, and baron. Although this grouping idea was taken from the European peerage, the Japanese titles were taken from Chinese and based on the ancient feudal system in China.
Itō Hirobumi and the other Meiji leaders deliberately modeled the chamber on the British House of Lords, as a counterweight to the popularly elected House of Representatives (Shūgiin).
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Wikipedia