Sessho and Kampaku

In Japan, the Sessh? (??) was a title given to a regent who was named to assist an emperor when the emperor was still a child, before the coming of age, or female. The Kampaku (??) was theoretically a sort of chief advisor for the emperor, but was the title of a regent who assists an adult emperor. During the Heian era, they were the effective rulers of Japan. There was little, if any, effective difference between the two titles, and several individuals merely alternated titles as child emperors grew to adulthood, or adult emperors retired or died and were replaced by child emperors. The two were collectively known as Sekkan (??).

List

Sessh? and Kampaku of the Heian Era

Famous Sessh? and Kampaku of the Kamakura period

• Kuj? Yoshitsune (Sessh? 1202 – 1206 for Emperor Tsuchimikado)
• Kuj? Michiie (Sessh? 1221 for Emperor Ch?ky?, Kampaku, 1228 – 1231, 1235 – 1237 for Emperor Shij?)
• Nij? Yoshimi? (Kampaku 1242 – 1246 for Emperor Go-Saga, 1261 – 1265 for Emperor Kameyama)
• Ichj? Sanetsune (Sessh? 1246 – 1247 for Emperor Go-Fukakusa, Kampaku 1265 – 1267 for Emperor Kameyama)

Famous Sessh? and Kampaku of the Muromachi period

• Nij? Yoshimoto (Kampaku 1346 – 1358, 1363 – 1367, Sessh?, 1382 – 1387, 1388)
• Ichij? Tsunetsugu (Kampaku 1399 – 1408 for Emperor Go-Komatsu, 1410 – 1418 for Go-Komatsu and Emperor Sh&?k?)
• Ichij? Kanera (Sessh? 1432, Kampaku 1447 – 1453 for Emperor Go-Hanazono, 1467 – 1470 for Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado)
• Ichij? Norifusa (Kampaku 1458 – 1463 for Emperor Go-Hanazono)
• Ichij? Fuyuyoshi (Kampaku 1488 – 1493 for Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado, 1497 – 1501 for Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado and Emperor Go-Kashiwabara)

Famous Sessh? and Kampaku of the Azuchi-Momoyama period

• Konoe Sakihisa (Kampaku 1554 – 1568 for Emperor Go-Nara and Emperor ?gimachi)
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Kampaku 1585 – 1591 for ?gimachi and Emperor Go-Y?zei)
• Toyotomi Hidetsugu (Kampaku 1591 – 1595 for Emperor Go-Y?zei)

Famous Sessh? and Kampaku of the Edo period

• Konoe Nobutaka (Kampaku 1605 – 1607 for Emperor Go-Y?zei)
• Konoe Iehira (Kampaku 1707 – 1709 for Emperor Higashiyama, Sessh? 1709 – 1712 for Emperor Nakamikado)

Sessh? of the modern era

Under the Imperial Household Law, the office of sessh? is restricted to the Imperial Family.

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• Crown Prince Hirohito, later Emperor Sh?wa (Sessh? 1921 – 1926 for the mentally disabled Emperor Taish?)