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Kizokuin or the House of Peers was the upper house of the Imperial Diet
under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan (in effect from 11 February
1889 to 3 May 1947). Ito Hirobumi and the other Meiji leaders deliberately
modeled the chamber on the British House of Lords. They intended as a
counterweight to the popularly elected House of Representatives (Shugiin).
In 1869, the leaders of new government had the Emperor Meiji issue an
imperial ordinance that merged the daimyo and the kuge into a single
aristocratic class, the kazoku. A second imperial ordinance in 1884, grouped
the kazoku into five ranks equivalent to the European prince (or duke),
marquis, count, viscount, and baron.
The House of Peers originally comprised: (1) all imperial princes
(shinno) and lesser princes of the imperial blood (o) over the age of
twenty, (2) all princes and marquis over the age of thirty, (3) 150 elected
representatives of the counts, viscounts, and barons, (4) 150 additional
members nominated by the Emperor, in consultation with the Privy Council,
and (4) 66 elected representatives of the 6,000 highest taxpayers. During
the first session of the Imperial Diet (1889-890), there were 145 hereditary
members and 106 imperial appointees and high taxpayers, for a total of 251
members. With the creation of new peers and the addition of seats for
representatives of the Imperial Academy (Gakushiin), the membership grew to
403 by 1925. The House of Peers elected its own president and vice
president. Like the House of Representatives, the House of Peers had limited
powers. The Constitution of Japan, in effect from 3 May 1947, replaced the
unelected House of Peers with an elected House of Councilors.
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