Tairō (大老, lit. "great elder") was a high-ranking official position in the bakuhan taisei government of Japan. The tairō would preside over the governing Rōjū council in the event of an emergency. A tairō would be nominated from among a group of samurai families who supported Tokugawa Ieyasu. Generally, the position was used to provide Japan with a capable temporary leader in the absence of a shogun, or in the event that the shogun was incapacitated.

List of tairō

Name	Domain	From	To
Sakai Tadayo	Harima	March 12, 1636	March 19, 1636
Doi Toshikatsu	Shimousa	November 7, 1638	July 10, 1644
Sakai Tadakatsu	Obama	November 7, 1638	May 26, 1656
Sakai Tadakiyo	Harima	March 29, 1666	December 9, 1680
Ii Naozumi	Ōmi	November 19, 1668	January 3, 1676
Hotta Masatoshi	Shimousa	November 12, 1681	August 28, 1684
Ii Naooki	Ōmi	June 13, 1696	March 2, 1700
Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu	Yamato	January 11, 1706	June 3, 1709
Ii Naooki	Ōmi	February 13, 1711	February 23, 1714
Ii Naoyuki	Ōmi	November 28, 1784	September 1, 1787
Ii Naoaki	Ōmi	December 28, 1835	May 13, 1841
Ii Naosuke	Ōmi	April 23, 1858	March 3, 1860
Sakai Tadashige	Harima	February 1, 1865	November 12, 1865

See also

• The Five Tairō