Tokudaiji Sanetsune
"With information translated from the Japanese Wikipedia article" Duke was a Japanese statesman and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan in the Meiji era. Life. Tokydaiji Sanetsune was born to a branch of the Fujiwara court nobility in Kyoto. His father was Tokudaiji Kin'ito, and his brother was Saionji Kinmochi, later Prime Minister of Japan. Joining the "sonnō jōi" ("Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarian") faction in Court against westernization and the Tokugawa shogunate, he was forced to flee Kyoto during the coup d'état by the moderate "samurai" of the Aizu and Satsuma domains on 18  August 1863. He returned after the Meiji Restoration and served in a number of posts in the new government. He became a "Dainagon" in 1869. In 1884, he was given the title of "koshaku" (marquis) under the new "kazoku" nobility rankings, and was subsequently elevated to "koshaku" (prince). In 1891 he became Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan a post he held until Emperor Meiji's death. He felt very strongly that the Emperor should not involve himself in politics or in the decision-making process of government.