Daijō-kan in the context of "Daijō-daijin"

In Japan, the Sesshō (摂政) was a regent who was named to act on behalf of either a child emperor before his coming of age, or an empress regnant. The Kampaku (関白) was theoretically a sort of chief advisor for the Emperor, but was in practice the title of both first secretary and regent who assisted an adult emperor. The duties of the Sesshō and Kampaku were to convey to the Emperor the policies formulated by the Sadaijin (左大臣, Minister of the Left) and other senior officials of the Daijō-kan (太政官, Council of State), and to convey the Emperor's decisions to them. As regents of the Emperor, the Sesshō and Kampaku sometimes made decisions on behalf of the Emperor, but their positions were not defined by law and they had no specific political authority. The two titles were collectively known as sekkan (摂関), and the families that exclusively held the titles were called sekkan-ke (sekkan family).

During the Heian period (794–1185), from the middle of the 9th century, the Fujiwara clan began to marry off their daughters to the Emperor and assume the positions of Sesshō and Kampaku, thereby excluding other clans from the political centre and increasing their political power. From the 10th century, the Fujiwara clan monopolized the Sesshō and Kampaku, and at the end of the 10th century, around the time of Fujiwara no Michinaga and Fujiwara no Yorimichi, the power of the Fujiwara clan reached its zenith. In the mid-11th century, Emperor Go-Sanjo ran his own government, and the next Emperor, Shirakawa, abdicated to become Cloistered Emperor, beginning the cloistered rule. From then on, the cloistered rule of Cloistered Emperor took root, and the de facto Fujiwara regime, which used the positions of Sesshō and Kampaku, was over, and the Sesshō and Kampaku lost their real political power and became mere names.

The First Itō Cabinet is the first Cabinet of Japan led by Itō Hirobumi from December 22, 1885 to April 30, 1888. The cabinet composed of ministry heads replaced the Daijō-kan.  

Empress Kōken (born Abe, known as Empress Shōtoku during her second reign; 718–770) was the 46th and 48th monarch of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. She was born to Crown Prince Obito (the future Emperor Shōmu) and his consort Fujiwara Asukabehime; seeking to protect the bloodline of Prince Kusakabe, her father proclaimed her the first crown princess in Japanese history in 738. She became the Empress Regnant in 749, after her father retired to become a Buddhist monk. With the backing of her mother (now Dowager Empress Kōmyō) and her mother's nephew Fujiwara no Nakamaro, she was able to outmaneuver a largely hostile Daijō-kan (Council of State). Her father died in 756, having named a cousin unrelated to the Fujiwara as her heir; this outraged Fujiwara supporters, and Kōken replaced him with Prince Ōi, a close ally of her mother and Nakamaro. In 757, she headed off a conspiracy to overthrow her by Tachibana no Naramaro, and resigned the following year to serve as empress emerita (Daijō Tennō), while Ōi reigned as Emperor Junnin.

Nakamaro slowly consolidated his political power with the backing of dowager empress Kōmyō. After an illness, Kōken became close to a healer-monk named Dōkyō, who became one of her strongest allies, as well as potentially an intimate partner. After this, she became a bhikkhunī (Buddhist nun) and shaved her head. After her mother's death in 760, Kōken began to oppose Nakamaro. She proclaimed superiority over Emperor Junnin in state matters in 762, and allied with anti-Nakamaro leaders, including her childhood tutor Kibi no Makibi. In 764, political conflict grew violent after she attempted to take control of the royal seals; Nakamaro fought a brief rebellion against her, naming Prince Shioyaki as emperor, but both were captured and executed, and Kōken returned to the throne as Empress Shōtoku.

Minister of the Right (右大臣, Udaijin) was a government position in Japan during the Asuka to Meiji era. The position was consolidated in the Taihō Code of 701. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the initial appearance of the Udaijin in the context of a central administrative body called the Daijō-kan (Council of State). This early Daijō-kan was composed of the three ministers—the Daijō-daijin (Chancellor), the Sadaijin (Minister of the Left) and the Udaijin. The Udaijin was the Junior Minister of State, overseeing all branches of the Daijō-kan. He would be the deputy of the Sadaijin.

From the Kamakura period (1185–1333), when the warrior class came to power in Japan, this imperial court position became an honorary position with no real authority. Oda Nobunaga, who was a powerful daimyo in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, was a daimyo who held this imperial court position. This was the first time since Minamoto no Sanetomo in 1218 that a member of the warrior class had been appointed Udaijin. Previously, the only warrior class members appointed to higher positions than Udaijin were Taira no Kiyomori and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as Daijō-daijin, and Ashikaga Yoshinori and Ashikaga Yoshimasa as Sadaijin. The warrior class was able to use the high imperial court positions of Daijō-daijin, Sadaijin, and Udaijin, which had originally belonged to the nobility, as a means of establishing their own authority.

The Tachibana clan (橘氏, Tachibana-uji, Tachibana-shi) was one of the four most powerful court nobility (kizoku or kuge) families in Japan's Nara and early Heian periods—the other three were the Minamoto, the Fujiwara, and the Taira. Members of the Tachibana family often held high court posts within the Daijō-kan (Ministry of State), most frequently Sadaijin (Minister of the Left). Like the other major families at court, they also constantly sought to increase and secure their power by marrying into the imperial family. However, as the Minamoto clan and the Fujiwara clan gained power over the course of the 9th and 10th centuries, the Tachibana were eclipsed and eventually became scattered across the country. Though serving in high government posts outside the capital, they were thus denied the degree of power and influence within the court at Kyoto (Heian-kyō) which they once enjoyed.

The name of Tachibana was bestowed on Agata-no-Inukai no Michiyo by Empress Genmei in 708. She was the wife of Prince Minu, a descendant of Emperor Bidatsu and mothered Princes Katsuragi and Sai. She later married Fujiwara no Fuhito and bore Kōmyōshi (Empress Kōmyō). In 736, Princes Katsuragi and Sai were given the surname Tachibana, renouncing their imperial family membership. They became Tachibana no Moroe and Tachibana no Sai respectively.

The Minister of the Left (左大臣, Sadaijin) was a government position in Japan during the Asuka to Meiji era. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the initial appearance of the Sadaijin in the context of a central administrative body called the Daijō-kan (太政官, Council of State). This early Daijō-kan was composed of the three ministers—the Daijō-daijin (太政大臣, Chancellor of the Realm), the Sadaijin and the Udaijin (右大臣, Minister of the Right). The position was consolidated in the Taihō Code of 702.　In Yamto kotoba（ヤマト言葉）, it is also called "Ohoi-Mauchi-Kimi"於保伊萬宇智岐美.

When the Emperor and the nobility held real power, the Sadaijin was the highest permanent position in the Daijō-kan, the central organ of the state. The higher-ranking 'Daijō-daijin was not a permanent position, but was only appointed when a suitable person was found.The Sadaijin was the Senior Minister of State, overseeing all functions of government with the Udaijin as his deputy.

The national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner with a red circle at its center. The flag is officially called the Nisshōki (日章旗, 'flag of the sun') but is more commonly known in Japan as the Hinomaru (日の丸, 'ball of the sun'). It embodies the country's sobriquet: the Land of the Rising Sun.

The Nisshōki flag is designated as the national flag in the Act on National Flag and Anthem, which was promulgated and became effective on 13 August 1999. Although no earlier legislation had specified a national flag, the sun-disc flag had already become the de facto national flag of Japan. Two proclamations issued in 1870 by the Daijō-kan, the governmental body of the early Meiji period, each had a provision for a design of the national flag. A sun-disc flag was adopted as the national flag for merchant ships under Proclamation No. 57 of Meiji 3 (issued on 27 January 1870), and as the national flag used by the Navy under Proclamation No. 651 of Meiji 3 (issued on 3 October 1870). Use of the Hinomaru was severely restricted during the early years of the Allied occupation of Japan after World War II; these restrictions were later relaxed.

The Asuka Kiyomihara Code (飛鳥浄御原令, Asuka Kiyomihara-ryō) refers to a collection of governing rules compiled and promulgated in 689, one of the first, if not the first collection of Ritsuryō laws in classical Japan. This also marks the initial appearance of the central administrative body called the Daijō-kan (Council of State) composed of the three ministers—the Daijō-daijin (Chancellor), the Sadaijin (Minister of the Left) and the Udaijin (Minister of the Right).

In 662, Emperor Tenji is said to have compiled the first Japanese legal code known to modern historians. The Ōmi-ryō, consisting of 22 volumes, was promulgated in the last year of Tenji's reign. This legal codification is no longer extant, but it is said to have been refined in what is known as the Asuka Kiyomihara ritsu-ryō of 689. The compilation was commenced in 681 under Emperor Tenmu. The Emperor died in 686, but the finalization of the Code took a few more years. It was promulgated in 689. These are understood to have been a forerunner of the Taihō ritsu-ryō of 701.