Genkun (the statesmen who contributed to Meiji Restoration) refer to the politicians who made considerable achievements in the overthrow of the Shogunate and the Meiji Restoration, played an important role in the Meiji Government, and were from Kinno-no-Shishi (a royalist).
元勲（げんくん）は、倒幕・明治維新に絶大な功があり、明治の政治に重きを為した勤皇志士出身の政治家たちの一群のこと。