Entering the Meiji restoration period, the socially upper classes, centered on Kuge-kizoku and Buke-kizoku, were included in the class called Kazoku, and then the Kazoku system was abolished after Japan was defeated in the Pacific War, making Kizoku extinct in Japan (however, excluding Kozoku or Imperial families).
明治維新期に至り、公家貴族と武家貴族を中心とする上流階級が華族へと移行したが、太平洋戦争での敗戦に伴い華族制度は廃止され、日本の貴族は消滅した(ただし、皇族は除く)。