viscount
A hereditary peerage title in the former Japanese kazoku system, equivalent to the European viscount. Now historical.
See also: 五等爵
彼の祖父は子爵だった。
His grandfather was a viscount.
伯爵 (count/earl) ranks above 子爵 (viscount) in the five-rank peerage system.
From Chinese 子爵 (zǐjué), a peerage title adopted into the Japanese kazoku system in the Meiji period.