(Japanese; " principal elders ")
Extraconstitutional oligarchy that dominated the Japanese government from the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution (1889) to the early 1930s.
The genro were men who had played a leading role in the 1868 Meiji Restoration . Their caretaking role outside the official government structure continued the Japanese tradition of having actual authority wielded by forces other than the titular authority. See also Fujiwara family ; Hōjō family ; Itō Hirobumi ; Yamagata Aritomo .