The Okubo family, the Kido family and the Hirosawa family were raised to kazoku by the favors of Emperor Meiji for the distinguished contributions of Toshimichi OKUBO, Takayoshi KIDO and Sanetomi HIROSAWA; amongst Shin kazoku (or Kunko kazoku), only those three families had been raised to kazoku before Kazoku Law was introduced.
また、大久保家（大久保利通の功）・木戸家（木戸孝允の功）・広沢家（広沢真臣の功）は、明治天皇の特旨によって華族に列せられているが、華族令以前に華族に昇進した元勲の家系はこの3家のみである。