Japanese politician (1836?1915)
Marquess
Inoue Kaoru
GCMG
(井上 馨, January 16, 1836 ? September 1, 1915) was a
Japanese
politician
and a prominent member of the
Meiji oligarchy
during the
Meiji period
of the
Empire of Japan
. As one of the senior statesmen (
Genr?
) in Japan during that period, he had a tremendous influence on the selection of the nation's leaders and formation of its policies.
Early years
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]
Inoue Kaoru as a young samurai.
Born Yakichi (勇吉) to a lower-ranked
samurai
family in Yuda,
Ch?sh? domain
(present day
Yamaguchi
,
Yamaguchi Prefecture
), Inoue attended the
Meirinkan
domain school
with his brother Ikutar? (幾太?). He was a close boyhood friend of
It? Hirobumi
who later became Japan's first
prime minister
, and he played an active part in the
sonn? j?i
movement. In 1858, he studied
rangaku
,
artillery
and
swordsmanship
in
Edo
.
In the
Bakumatsu period
, Inoue emerged as a leader of the anti-foreigner movement in his native Ch?sh?. Desiring to rid Japan of foreigners, he and
Takasugi Shinsaku
set fire to the British legation in Edo in January 1863.
Recognizing Japan's need to learn from the Western powers, Inoue joined the
Ch?sh? Five
and was smuggled out of Japan to study at
University College, London
[1]
[2]
in
England
in 1863. When he returned with It? Hirobumi, he unsuccessfully tried to prevent war (the
Battle of Shimonoseki
) between Ch?sh? and the Western naval powers over the closing of the
Straits of Shimonoseki
to foreign shipping. Later, he fought against the forces of the
Tokugawa shogunate
in the 1864
First Ch?sh? Expedition
, during which he was severely wounded by the attack of the assassins, received a near-fatal injury, appealing to Inoue's elder brother for beheading because of the unbearable pain and finally
Ikutaro Tokoro
who was then in hiding from the pursuit of Tokugawa shogunate with
Prince Sanj? Sanetomi
and rushed to Inoue pulled him through this by putting about 50 stitches of
tatami
needle in the wounds on the whole body without anesthesia because of emergency during the domestic war time (The story that Inoue's mother holding bloody Inoue then dissuaded her elder son from beheading was introduced in the National Japanese text book of the 5th period as the power of mother).
[3]
He later played a key role in the formation of the
Satch? Alliance
against the Tokugawa shogunate.
Statesman in the Meiji government
[
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Inoue Kaoru, 1880s
After the
Meiji Restoration
, Inoue served in several important positions in the new
Meiji government
. He was appointed
Vice Minister of Finance
in 1871 and was influential in reorganizing government finances on modern lines, especially in the
reform of the land tax system
, termination of government stipends to the ex-
samurai
and former aristocracy and for promoting industrialization. Closely linked to business circles, including the emerging
Mitsui
zaibatsu
, he was also involved in the railway business. These measures created many political enemies, and Inoue was forced to resign in May 1873. Inoue took part in the
Osaka Conference of 1875
to support the creation of a representative
national assembly
.
In 1876, Inoue was asked to assist in the field of foreign affairs, and was involved in the conclusion of the
Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876
as vice-ambassador extraordinary and
plenipotentiary
. He returned to government as
Minister of Public Works
in 1878 and Lord of Foreign Affairs in 1879 under the early Meiji
Daj?-kan
Cabinet. In 1884, he was elevated to the rank of
count
(
hakushaku
) under the new
kazoku
peerage system.
In December 1885, Inoue officially became Japan's first
Minister of Foreign Affairs
bearing that title in the first
It? Hirobumi
cabinet. However, Inoue came under public criticism for his failure to negotiate a revision of the
unequal treaties
, his building of the
Rokumeikan
, and support of its Westernizing influences, which forced him to resign in August 1887.
Later he served as
Minister of Agriculture and Commerce
in the
Kuroda
administration, as
Home Minister
in the second It? administration and again as Finance Minister in the 3rd It? administration.
From 1901 onwards, Inoue served as most senior of the
genr?
, and considered himself the government's foremost advisor on financial affairs. He was advanced to the title of marquis (
k?shaku
) in 1907, and died in 1915 at his summer home at
Okitsu-juku
,
Shizuoka prefecture
.
Honours
[
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]
From the article in the Japanese Wikipedia
Japanese
[
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]
Foreign
[
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See also
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References
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Further reading
[
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]
- Akamatsu, Paul. (1972).
Meiji 1868: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Japan
(trans., Miriam Kochan). New York: Harper & Row.
- Beasley, William G.
(1972).
The Meiji Restoration.
Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- __________. (1995).
The Rise of Modern Japan: Political, Economic and Social Change Since 1850.
New York: St. Martin's Press.
- Cobbing, Andrew (2010). “Inoue Kaoru (1836?1915): A Controversial Meiji Statesman”. in
Biographical Portraits
. Leiden: BRILL.
- Craig, Albert M.
(1961).
Ch?sh? in the Meiji Restoration.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- Jansen, Marius B.
and
Gilbert Rozman
, eds. (1986).
Japan in Transition: from Tokugawa to Meiji.
Princeton:
Princeton University Press
.
ISBN
9780691054599
;
OCLC 12311985
External links
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]
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