Ōkuma Shigenobu
Junior First Rank Marquess Ōkuma Shigenobu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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大隈 重信 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Prime Minister of Japan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 16 April 1914 – 9 October 1916 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | Taishō | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Yamamoto Gonnohyōe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Terauchi Masatake | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 30 June 1898 – 8 November 1898 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | Meiji | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Itō Hirobumi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Yamagata Aritomo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of the House of Peers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 14 July 1916 – 10 January 1922 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 11 March 1838 Saga, Hizen, Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 10 January 1922 (aged 83) Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Independent (1908–1914; 1916–1922) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | Rikken Kaishintō (1882–1896) Shimpotō (1896–1898) Kenseitō (1898–1908) Rikken Dōshikai (1914–1916) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
Ōkuma Ayako (m. 1869) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born in the Saga Domain, Ōkuma was appointed minister of finance soon after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, aided by his friendship with genrō Inoue Kaoru. He unified the nation's currency and created the national mint before being dismissed in 1881 after a long series of disagreements with members of the Satsuma and Chōshū cliques in the Meiji oligarchy. In 1882, Ōkuma formed the Rikken Kaishintō party and founded Waseda University. He returned to office as foreign minister in 1888, and focused on revising the unequal treaties imposed on Japan; his approach was viewed by some as too conciliatory to the Western powers, leading to an assassination attempt in 1889 and the loss of a leg. Ōkuma again returned to politics in 1896, merging the Kaishintō with several smaller nationalist parties to form the Shimpotō party in March 1896, and becoming foreign minister and agriculture and commerce minister.
In 1898, he merged with
Early life and education
Ōkuma Hachitarō was born on March 11, 1838, in
At the age of seven, he entered the domain school Kōdōkan and studied mainly
The Dutch school was merged with the provincial school in 1861, and Ōkuma took up a lecturing position there shortly afterward. Ōkuma sympathized with the sonnō jōi movement, which aimed at expelling the Europeans who had started to arrive in Japan. However, he also advocated mediation between the rebels in Chōshū and the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo.[citation needed]
During a trip to
Ōkuma frequently traveled between Nagasaki and
Political career
Following the
In 1873, the Japanese government removed the ban on Christianity.[citation needed]
He was soon given an additional post as head of Japan's monetary reform program. He made use of his close contacts with
He also unified the nation's currency, created the national mint, and a separate Minister of Industry; however, he was dismissed in 1881 after a long series of disagreements with members of the Satsuma and Chōshū clique in the Meiji oligarchy, most notably Itō Hirobumi, over his efforts to secure foreign loans, to establish a constitution, and especially over his exposure of illicit property dealings involving Prime Minister Kuroda Kiyotaka and others from Satsuma.
In 1882, Ōkuma co-founded the Constitutional Progressive Party (
Despite their continuing animosity, Itō again appointed Ōkuma to the post of Foreign Minister in February 1888 to deal with the difficult issue of negotiation revisions to the "unequal treaties" with the Western powers. The treaty he negotiated was perceived by the public as too conciliatory to the Western powers, and created considerable controversy. In 1889, Ōkuma was attacked by a member of the Gen'yōsha, who threw a bomb directly under Ōkuma's carriage.[11]: 253 Following two operations, Ōkuma's left leg was amputated at the hip.[11]: 253 He retired from politics at that time.
However, he returned to politics in 1896 by reorganizing the Rikken Kaishintō into the Shimpotō (Progressive Party).[citation needed] In 1897, Matsukata Masayoshi convinced Ōkuma to participate in his second administration as Foreign Minister and Agriculture and Commerce Minister, but again, he remained in office for only one year before resigning as a result of intrigues involving the prime minister.[9]
First premiership (1898)
In June 1898, Ōkuma co-founded the
Out of office (1898–1914)
After his political retirement, Ōkuma became president of Waseda University and chairman of the Japan Civilization Society, from which scholars' many translations of European and American texts were published. He also gathered support for Japan's first expedition to Antarctica.
Second premiership (1914–1916)
At the request of the Emperor, Ōkuma returned to politics during the constitutional crisis of 1914, when the government of Yamamoto Gonnohyōe was forced to resign in the wake of the Siemens scandal.[12] The 2nd Ōkuma administration was noted for its active foreign policy. Later that year, Japan declared war on the German Empire, thus entering World War I on the Allied side. However, the government suffered defeat in December, over the army budget.[12]
In 1915, Ōkuma and Katō Takaaki drafted the Twenty-One Demands on China. Ōkuma won re-election in March of that year, but his second administration was also short-lived. Following the Ōura scandal, Ōkuma's cabinet lost popular support, and its members held mass resignation in October 1915. Still, Ōkuma was persuaded to continue in office for a while, and during the year treaties were concluded with France, Russia and China.[12] Later in 1916, after a long argument with the Genrō, Ōkuma resigned as well, and retired from politics permanently.
Later life and death
Although Ōkuma had retired from politics, he still remained a member of the
Ōkuma returned to Waseda, and died there in 1922.[13] An estimated 300,000 people attended his funeral in Tokyo's Hibiya Park. He was posthumously conferred with the Collar of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, the nation's highest honour. He was buried at the temple of Gokoku-ji in Tokyo.
Residence
Ōkuma Shigenobu's house in the city of Saga still exists, and is part of the Okuma Shigenobu Memorial Museum complex. This building was purchased by Ōkuma Kumanosuke in 1838, and was the residence of Ōkuma Shigenobu from his birth until he departed Saga for Tokyo in 1868. The structure consists of a single-story tatch-roof portion and a two-story tile-roof portion. It is said that the second floor was added by Shigenobu's mother to provide her son with a study. Although the house is in good preservation, there are signs of remodeling at the entrance, and the kitchen has been removed and an administration room added at a later date. It was designated a National Historic Site in 1965.[14]
Honours
From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia
Peerages
- Count (May 9, 1887)
- Marquess (July 14, 1916)
Decorations
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (November 2, 1877)
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (April 29, 1910)
- Collar of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (January 10, 1922, posthumous; Grand Cordon: July 14, 1916)
Court order of precedence
- Fifth rank, junior grade (1867)
- Fourth rank, junior grade (1868)
- Senior fourth rank (1870)
- Third rank (July 22, 1871)
- Senior third rank (December 26, 1887)
- Second rank (February 17, 1888)
- Senior second rank (June 20, 1898)
- Junior First Rank (January 10, 1922)[15]
Notes
- ^ Kindaichi, Haruhiko; Akinaga, Kazue, eds. (March 10, 2025). 新明解日本語アクセント辞典 (in Japanese) (2nd ed.). Sanseidō.
- ^ a b c d Borton, p. 91.
- ^ OCLC 1201259749.
- ^ "大隈重信 | 近代日本人の肖像". National Diet Library (in Japanese). Retrieved December 10, 2021.
- ^ Brownas, heading "A Wider Window on the West"
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 61.
- ^ Tokugawa, p. 161. Unlike all 14 previous Tokugawa shōguns, Yoshinobu never set foot in Edo during his tenure.
- ^ Borton, p. 78.
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 62.
- ^ Beasley, p. 105.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4780-1121-7.
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1922.
- ^ Beasley, p. 220.
- ^ "大隈重信旧宅" (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "叙従一位位記:正二位大勲位侯爵大隈重信". Waseda University Library. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
References
- Beasley, W.G. (1963). The Making of Modern Japan. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
- Borton, Hugh (1955). Japan's Modern Century. New York: The Ronald Press Company.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 61–62.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 31 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 1174.
- Idditti, Smimasa. Life of Marquis Shigenobu Okuma: A Maker of New Japan. Kegan Paul International Ltd. (2006). ISBN 0-7103-1186-9
- Idditti, Junesay. Marquis Shigenobu Okuma – A Biographical Study in the Rise of Democratic Japan. Hokuseido Press (1956). ASIN: B000IPQ4VQ
- Lebra-Chapman, Joyce. Okuma Shigenobu: statesman of Meiji Japan. Australian National University Press (1973). ISBN 0-7081-0400-2
- Oka Yoshitake, et al. Five Political Leaders of Modern Japan: Ito Hirobumi, Okuma Shigenobu, Hara Takashi, Inukai Tsuyoshi, and Saionji Kimmochi. University of Tokyo Press (1984). ISBN 0-86008-379-9
- Tokugawa Munefusa (2005). Tokugawa yonhyakunen no naisho-banashi: raibaru bushō-hen Tokyo: Bungei-shunju
- Brownas, Sidney DeVere. Nagasaki in the Meiji Restoration: Choshu Loyalists and British Arms Merchants. http://www.uwosh.edu/home_pages/faculty_staff/earns/meiji.html Retrieved on August 7, 2008.
External links
- Yomiuri Shimbun: Less than 30% of primary school students in Japan know historical significance of Ōkuma, 2008.
- Photograph of Rabindranath Tagore and Count Okuma in Japan in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)
- . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
- Newspaper clippings about Ōkuma Shigenobu in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
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