Kugyō

Pre-modern Japan
Part of a series on the politics and government of Japan during the Nara and Heian periods
Daijō-kan (Council of State)
Chancellor / Chief Minister	Daijō-daijin
Minister of the Left	Sadaijin
Minister of the Right	Udaijin
Minister of the Center	Naidaijin
Major Counselor	Dainagon
Middle Counselor	Chūnagon
Minor Counselor	Shōnagon
Eight Ministries
Center	Nakatsukasa-shō
Ceremonial	Shikibu-shō
Civil Administration	Jibu-shō
Popular Affairs	Minbu-shō
Military	Hyōbu-shō
Justice	Gyōbu-shō
Treasury	Ōkura-shō
Imperial Household	Kunai-shō

Kugyō (公卿^?) is the collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras. The kugyō was broadly divided into two groups: the Kō (公^?), comprising the Chancellor of the Realm, the Minister of the Left, and the Minister of the Right; and the Kei (卿^?), comprising the Major Counsellor, the Middle Counsellor, the Court Councillor (参議, Sangi^?), and members of the Japanese court of the third rank or higher.

As part of the Meiji reforms, a single aristocratic class, the kazoku, was created in 1869 by merging the kuge (the court nobility in Kyoto, of which the kugyō was a part) and the daimyo (the feudal land holders and warriors). In the 1870s, the organizational structure of the court itself was also modernized.