Kōke

A kōke (高家^?, "high families") during the Edo period in Japan generally referred to the position of the "Master of Ceremonies", held by certain -less samurai ranking below a daimyō. Historically, or in a more general context, the term may refer to a family of old lineage and distinction.

Perhaps the most famous Master of Ceremonies in history was Kira Yoshinaka aka Kira Kōzuke no suke (吉良上野介^?), the real-life model of the villain avenged in the tale of the forty-seven rōnin of Akō.

The office of kōke is typically translated "Master of Ceremonies" or "Master of Court Ceremony".

The men who kōke position performed such roles as that of the courier carrying the shogun's messages to the Imperial court in Kyoto, or one of a reception committee for hosting the Imperial Envoys at Edo. They also represented the shogun in certain functions held at and other shrines or temples, and regulated courtly ceremonies and rites observed in the Edo Castle.

The office was instituted in 1608, when the shogunate selected certain ancient great dispossessed families to fill the hereditary office. Most of these families claimed descent from shugo (governors) of the Kamakura period to Sengoku period, among them the Takeda, the Imagawa, the Kyōgoku, the Rokkaku, the Ōtomo, and the Hatakeyama (a full list is given below). Some families were less prestigious, like the Yokose, the Yura, the Ōsawa, and the Kira. By the end of the shogunate in the mid-19th century, the occupancy of the office numbered 26. Some families had several branches among the kōke, like the Takeda who had two lateral branches with that title.

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