Wakadoshiyori (若年寄)
What is Wakadoshiyori?
It was a post in the Edo bakufu government. Its details are described in a main paragraph.
The post with the same title was placed at domains as well as at the bakufu.
This term is also used for indicating a male who looks older than his real age.
While Roju were in charge of national affairs, Wakadoshiyori were responsible for housekeeping of the Shogun family and mainly controlling Hatamoto (direct retainers of Shogun) and Gokenin (also direct retainers of Shogun, but generally speaking, lower-ranked than Hatamoto).
This post originated in that Iemitsu TOKUGAWA appointed his six close advisers, Nobutsuna MATSUDAIRA, Masamori HOTTA, Tadaaki ABE, Sukemune OTA, and Shigetsugu ABE, to the 'Rokunin-shu' (six persons) post for handling daily affairs in 1633. However, because four of them were promoted to Roju and consequently the meaning of the existence of the post was lost, the Rokuninshu post was abolished once, with its jobs were absorbed in Roju. Later, the post was restored as the Wakatoshiyori post. The number of the Wakatoshiyori members was roughly four, and the post became a step for Roju or Sobayonin (lord chamberlain).