The , or "Junior Elders", were high government officials in 17th century Tokugawa

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The position was established around 1631, but appointments were irregular until 1662.

The four to six Wakadoshiyori were subordinates to the Rōjū

Roju

The ', usually translated as Elder, was one of the highest-ranking government posts in Tokugawa Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council as a whole; under the first two shoguns, there were only two Rōjū...

, or "Elders", and were responsible for a variety of duties. There were periods when the number of wakadoshiyori rose to 6 or 7 at one time.

The wakadoshiyori ranked below the rōjū in status, but they ranked above the jisha-bugyō

Jisha-bugyo

was a "commissioner" or an "overseer" of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were always fudai daimyō, the lowest-ranking of the shogunate offices to be so restricted...

. These officials were tasked with supervising the activities of members of the feudal class below daimyō status -- and this would include the hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...

(the Shogun's

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

 direct retainers), craftsmen, physicians, public works, and vassals of the Shogun whose annual income was less than 10,000 koku

Koku

The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...

.

They also oversaw the activities of offices in the great castle cities of the country, including Kyoto and Osaka.

Under Tokugawa Iemitsu (1623–1651)

• Matsudaira Nobutsuna (1633–1635)
• Abe Tadaaki
  Abe Tadaaki
  was a high-ranking government official in Japan under Tokugawa Iemitsu and Ietsuna, the third and fourth Tokugawa Shogun. Daimyo of the Oshi Domain in modern-day Saitama prefecture, with an income of 80,000 koku , Abe was appointed wakadoshiyori in 1633, and rōjū shortly afterwards.Iemitsu died...
  
   (1633–1635)
• Hotta Masamori
  Hotta Masamori
  , Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period who was a key figure in the early decades of the Tokugawa shogunate.-Origins:The rise of Hotta Masamori through the ranks of the Tokugawa shogunate is a rather miraculous one; his family had a very short history with the Tokugawa family prior to his father...
  
   (1633–1635)
• Abe Shigetsugu (1633–1638)
• Ōta Sukemune (1633–1638)
• Miura Masatsugu (1633–1639)
• Dōi Toshitaka (1635–1638)
• Sakai Tadatomo (1635–1638)
• Kutsuki Tanetsuna (1635–1649)

Under Tokugawa Ietsuna (1651–1680)

• Kuze Hiroyuki (1662–1663)
• Tsuchiya Kazunao (1662–1665)
• Doi Toshifusa (1663–1679)
• Nagai Naotsune (1665–1670)
• Hotta Masatoshi
  Hotta Masatoshi
  was a daimyō in Shimousa Province, and top government advisor and official in the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He served as rōjū to Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna from 1679–80, and as Tairō under Tokugawa Tsunayoshi from the 12th day of the 11th lunar month of 1681 until his death on 7 October...
  
   (1670–1679)
• Matsudaira Nobuoki (1679–1682)
• Ishikawa Norimasa (1679–1682)

Under Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1680–1709)

• Hotta Masahide (1681–1685)
• Inaba Masayasu (1682–1684)
• Akimoto Takatomo (1682–1699)
• Naitō Shigeyori (1684–1685)
• Matsudaira Tadachika (1685)
• Ōta Sukenao (1685–1686)
• Inagaki Shigesada (1685–1689)
• Ōkubo Tadamasu (1687–1688)
• Miura Akihiro (1689)
• Yamauchi Toyoakira (1689)
• Matsudaira Nobutaka (1689–1690)
• Naitō Masachika (1690–1694)
• Katō Akihide (1690–1711)
• Matsudaira Masahisa (1694–1696)
• Yonekura Masatada (1696–1699)
• Honda Masanaga (1696–1704)
• Inoue Masamine (1699–1705)
• Inagaki Shigetomi (1699–1709)
• Nagai Naohiro
  Nagai Naohiro
  was a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period, who ruled the Akō Domain following its confiscation from Asano Naganori. Naohiro was the eldest son of Nagai Naotsune, and assumed family headship after his father's death...
  
   (1704–1711)
• Kuze Shigeyuki (1705–1713)
• Ōkubo Norihiro (1706–1723)

Under Tokugawa Ienobu (1709–1712) and Ietsugu (1713–1716)

• Torii Tadateru (1711–1716)
• Mizuno Tadayuki
  Mizuno Tadayuki
  was a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period. He served in a variety of positions in the Tokugawa shogunate, including wakadoshiyori, rōjū, and Kyoto Shoshidai....
  
   (1711–1714)
• Ōkubo Tsuneharu (1713–1728)
• Morikawa Toshitane (1714–1717)

Under Tokugawa Yoshimune (1716–1745)

• Ishikawa Fusashige (1717–1725)
• Matsudaira Norikata (1723–1735)
• Mizuno Tadasada (1723–1748)
• Honda Tadamune (1725–1750)
• Ōta Sukeharu (1728–1734)
• Koide Hidesada (1732–1744)
• Nishio Tadanao
  Nishio Tadanao
  was a daimyō in mid-Edo period Japan, who ruled Yokosuka Domain in Tōtōmi Province. He also served as an official within the administration of Tokugawa Shogunate, rising through the ranks first as Sōshaban, Jisha-bugyō, Wakadoshiyori, and finally to the position of Rōjū.-Biography:Tadanao was the...
  
   (1734–1745)
• Itakura Katsukiyo (1735–1760)
• Toda Ujifusa (1744–1758)

Under Tokugawa Ieshige (1745–1760)

• Kanō Hisamichi (1745–1748)
• Hori Naohisa (1745–1748)
• Miura Yoshisato (1745–1749)
• Hotta Masanobu (1745–1751)
• Akimoto Suketomo (1747)
• Kobori Masamine (1748–1751, 1756–1760)
• Koide Fusayoshi (1748–1767)
• Matsudaira Tadatsune (1748–1768)
• Sakai Tadayoshi (1749–1761, 1761–1787)
• Ōoka Tadamitsu (1754–1756)
• Honda Tadahide (1758)
• Mizuno Tadachika (1758–1775)

Under Tokugawa Iesada (1853–1858) and Iemochi (1858–1866)

• Sakai Tadasuke (1853–1862), 1863, 1864–1866).
• Andō Nobumasa
  Ando Nobumasa
  was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period, who ruled the Iwakidaira Domain. He was a rōjū in the Tokugawa shogunate, and was active in the wake of Ii Naosuke's assassination...
  
   ((1858–1860).
• Mizuno Tadakiyo
  Mizuno Tadakiyo
  was a daimyō during Bakumatsu period Japan, who served as chief senior councilor in service to the Tokugawa Shogunate.-Biography:Mizuno Tadakiyo was the eldest son of Mizuno Tadakuni, the daimyō of Hamamatsu Domain and chief senior councilor in service to the Tokugawa Shogunate...
  
   (1861–1862).
• Ogasawara Nagamichi
  Ogasawara Nagamichi
  was the a Japanese samurai and official in the Bakumatsu period Tokugawa Shogunate. Before the Meiji Restoration, his courtesy title was Iki no Kami and lower 5th Court rank.-Biography:...
  
   (1862).

Under Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1867–1868)

• Hoshina Masaari
  Hoshina Masaari
  Viscount ' was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period who was the last ruler of the Iino Domain...
  
   (1866–1867)
• Ōkōchi Masatada (1866–1867)
• Kyōgoku Takatomi (1866–1868)
• Asano Ujisuke (1867)
• Kawakatsu Kōun (1867)
• Nagai Naoyuki
  Nagai Naoyuki
  , also known as or , was a Japanese samurai and Tokugawa retainer during the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods.-Early life:Nagai Naoyuki, or as he was first known, , was born in the Nukada district of the Okutono Domain by a concubine to . Noritada, while head of a collateral branch of the Tokugawa, was...
  
   (1867–1868)
• Matsudaira Chikayoshi
  Matsudaira Chikayoshi
  ; was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period who served as daimyō of the Funai Domain . Served in a variety of positions in the Tokugawa Shogunate, including that of wakadoshiyori. Resigning from the family headship in 1871, he went into retirement.-External links:*...
  
   (1867–1868)
• Takenaka Shigekata
  Takenaka Shigekata
  was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, later a figure in efforts to colonize Hokkaido. He is also known by his court title, Tango no kami ....
  
   (1867–1868)
• Hori Naotora
  Hori Naotora
  was a samurai of the late Edo period who served as daimyo of Susaka han . Working in various positions throughout the Tokugawa government, he was appointed as Foreign Affairs Magistrate and wakadoshiyori in late 1867, dying suddenly in Edo Castle a little over a month later, in January...
  
   (1867–1868)
• Tsukahara Masayoshi (1867–1868)
• Katsu Kaishū
  Katsu Kaishu
  was a Japanese statesman, naval engineer during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period. Kaishū was a nickname which he took from a piece of calligraphy by Sakuma Shōzan. He went through a series of given names throughout his life; his childhood name was and his real name was...
  
   (1868)
• Ōkubo Ichiō (1868)
• Hattori Tsunezumi (1868)
• Imagawa Norinobu
  Imagawa Norinobu
  was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period.Norinobu was influential in the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, being appointed a wakadoshiyori shortly before its demise and working for the new government to show clemency to the Tokugawa family.-Genealogy:...
  
   (1868)
• Atobe Yoshisuke
  Atobe Yoshisuke
  was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period. A hatamoto serving the Tokugawa shogun, Yoshisuke was the birth brother of the Bakufu senior councilor Mizuno Tadakuni...
  
   (1868)
• Kawatsu Sukekuni, also known as Kawazu Sukekune (1868).
• Mukōyama Ippaku (1868)
• Kondō Isami
  Kondo Isami
  was a Japanese swordsman and official of the late Edo Period, famed for his role as commander of the Shinsengumi.-Background:Isami, who was first known as Katsugorō, was born to Miyagawa Hisajirō, a farmer residing in Kami-Ishihara village in Musashi Province, now in the city of Chōfu in Western...
  
   (1868)

Wakadoshiyori-kaku

The wakadoshiyori-kaku were bakufu officials ranking as wakadoshiyori, but not actually appointed as such.
List of wakadoshiyori-kaku

• Nagai Naomune (1867–1868).