In the history of Japan, the Council of Five Elders (Japanese: 五大老, Hepburn: Go-Tairō) was a group of five powerful feudal lords (大名, daimyō) formed in 1598 by the Regent (太閤, Taikō) Toyotomi Hideyoshi, shortly before his death the same year. While Hideyoshi was on his deathbed, his son, Toyotomi Hideyori, was still only five years old and as such Hideyoshi needed to create the council in order to ensure his heir would be able to succeed him after coming of age. They also acted as advisers for the Five Commissioners (五奉行, Go-Bugyō), which had also been established by Hideyoshi to govern Kyoto and the surrounding areas.
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Council of Five Elders in the context of Oeyo
Oeyo (於江与), Gō (江), Ogō (小督) or Satoko (達子) : 1573 – September 15, 1626) was a noblewoman in Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period and early Edo period. She was a daughter of Oichi and the sister of Yodo-dono and Ohatsu. When she rose to higher political status during the Tokugawa shogunate, she took the title of "Ōmidaidokoro". Following the fall of the Council of Five Elders, Oeyo and her sisters were key figures in maintaining a diplomatic relationship between the two most powerful clans of their time, Toyotomi and Tokugawa. Due to her great contributions to politics at the beginning of the Edo period she was posthumously inducted into the Junior First Rank of the Imperial Court, the second highest honor that could be conferred by the Emperor of Japan.
Oeyo married three times, first to Saji Kazunari, her cousin, then to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew, Toyotomi Hidekatsu. She had a daughter with Hidekatsu named Toyotomi Sadako, who later married Kujō Yukiie. Her third and last husband Tokugawa Hidetada became the second Tokugawa shōgun. She was also the mother of his successor Iemitsu, the third shōgun. Her children included Senhime, Tamahime, Katsuhime, Hatsuhime, Takechiyo (Iemitsu), and Tadanaga. Hatsuhime was adopted by Oeyo's sister Ohatsu, who was married to Kyōgoku Takatsugu.
Council of Five Elders in the context of Yodo-dono
Yodo-dono (淀殿) or Yodo-gimi (淀君; [jo.do(ꜜ).ɡʲi.mʲi, -ŋʲi.mʲi], 1569 – June 4, 1615), also known as Lady Chacha (茶々; [tɕaꜜ.tɕa]), was a Japanese historical figure in the late Sengoku period. She was the concubine and the second wife of Japanese ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi. As the mother of his son and successor Hideyori, she acted as Hideyori's guardian in the restoration of the Toyotomi clan after the fall of the Council of Five Elders, and alongside her son, led the last anti-Tokugawa shogunate resistance in the siege of Osaka.
She was the daughter of Oichi and sister of Ohatsu and Oeyo. When her two younger sisters became prominent members linked to the Tokugawa clan, she and her sisters became vital to maintaining the diplomatic relations between the two most powerful clans of the time, Toyotomi and Tokugawa. Her sister, Oeyo, was the wife of the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, and matriarch of the successive shoguns' lineage, thus receiving the political title Omidaidokoro.