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Japanese House of Peers

House of Peers
貴族院
Kizoku-in
Coat of arms or logo
Prince Fumimaro Konoe addressing the House of Peers in 1936, with the imperial throne in the background
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
Last election
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

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