Itagaki Taisuke
Encyclopedia
- For information on the warrior woman, see Itagaki
Count was a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and leader of the , which evolved into Japan's first political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
.
Early life
Itagaki Taisuke was born into a middle-ranking samuraiSamurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
family in Tosa Domain
Tosa Domain
The was a feudal domain in Tosa Province of Japan during the Edo period. Its official name is . Some from the domain played important roles in events in the late Tokugawa shogunate...
, (present day Kōchi Prefecture
Kochi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the south coast of Shikoku. The capital is the city of Kōchi.- History :Prior to the Meiji Restoration, Kōchi was known as Tosa Province and was controlled by the Chosokabe clan in the Sengoku period and the Yamauchi family during the Edo period.- Geography...
), After studies in Kōchi
Kochi, Kochi
is the capital city of Kōchi Prefecture on Shikoku island of Japan.Kōchi is the main city of the prefecture with over 40% of its population. As of May 31, 2008, the city had an estimated population of 340,515 and a density of...
and in Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
, he was appointed as sobayonin (councillor) to Tosa daimyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
Yamauchi Toyoshige, and was in charge of accounts and military matters at the domain's Edo residence in 1861. He disagreed with the domain’s official policy of kōbu gattai
Kōbu Gattai
Kōbu gattai was a policy in Bakumatsu Japan aiming at obtaining a political coordination between the Bakufu and the Imperial Court....
(reconciliation between the Imperial Court and the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
), and in 1867-1868, he met with Saigō Takamori
Saigo Takamori
was one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history, living during the late Edo Period and early Meiji Era. He has been dubbed the last true samurai.-Early life:...
of the Satsuma Domain, and agreed to pledge Tosa's forces in the effort to overthrow the Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
in the upcoming Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
. During the Boshin War
Boshin War
The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
, he emerged as the leading political figure from Tosa domain, and claimed a place in the new Meiji government
Government of Meiji Japan
The Government of Meiji Japan was the government which was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain, Chōshū Domain and Tenno. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan....
after the Tokugawa defeat.
Meiji statesman to liberal agitator
Abolition of the han system
The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...
in 1871. As a sangi (councillor), he ran the government temporarily during the absence of the Iwakura Mission
Iwakura mission
The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy was a Japanese diplomatic journey around the world, initiated in 1871 by the oligarchs of the Meiji period. Although it was not the only such "mission", it is the most well-known and possibly most important for the modernization of Japan after a long period...
.
However, Itagaki resigned from the Meiji government in 1873 over disagreement with the government's policy of restraint toward Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
(Seikanron
Seikanron
The Seikanron debate was a major political conflagration which occurred in Japan in 1873....
) and, more generally, in opposition to the Chōshū-Satsuma
Satsuma Province
was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Its abbreviation is Sasshū .During the Sengoku Period, Satsuma was a fief of the Shimazu daimyo, who ruled much of southern Kyūshū from their castle at Kagoshima city.In 1871, with the...
domination of the new government.
In 1874, together with Gotō Shōjirō
Goto Shojiro
Count was a Japanese samurai and politician during the Bakumatch and early Meiji period of Japanese history. He was a leader of which would evolve into a political party.- Early life :...
of Tosa and Etō Shimpei
Eto Shimpei
, was a Japanese statesman during the early Meiji period, remembered chiefly for his role in the unsuccessful Saga Rebellion.- Early Life & Meiji Bureaucrat :...
and Soejima Taneomi
Soejima Taneomi
was a diplomat and statesman during early Meiji period Japan.-Biography:Soejima was born into a samurai family in Saga, in Hizen province . His father was a teacher in the domain's school and a scholar of National Learning . In 1866, Soejima was sent to Nagasaki by the domain leaders to study the...
of Hizen, he formed the Aikoku Kōtō
Aikoku Koto
The ' was a political party in Meiji period Japan.The Aikoku Kōtō was formed in January 1874 by Itagaki Taisuke, Etō Shimpei, Gotō Shōjirō and others as part of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. Its purpose was to petition the Meiji government to establish a national assembly...
(Public Party of Patriots), declaring, "We, the thirty millions of people in Japan are all equally endowed with certain definite rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring and possessing property, and obtaining a livelihood and pursuing happiness. These rights are by Nature bestowed upon all men, and, therefore, cannot be taken away by the power of any man." This anti-government stance appealed to the discontented remnants of the samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
class and the rural aristocracy (who resented centralized taxation) and peasants (who were discontented with high prices and low wages). Itagaki's involvement in liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
lent it political legitimacy in Japan, and he became a leader of the push for democratic reform.
Itagaki and his associations created a variety of organizations to fuse samurai ethos with western liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
and to agitate for a national assembly
National Assembly
National Assembly is either a legislature, or the lower house of a bicameral legislature in some countries. The best known National Assembly, and the first legislature to be known by this title, was that established during the French Revolution in 1789, known as the Assemblée nationale...
, written constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
and limits to arbitrary exercise of power by the government. These included the Risshisha (Self-Help Movement) and the Aikokusha
Aikokusha
The ' was a political party in Meiji period Japan.The Aikokusha was formed in February 1875 by Itagaki Taisuke, as part a liberal political federation to associate his Risshisha with the Freedom and People's Rights Movement...
(Society of Patriots) in 1875. After funding issues led to initial stagnation, the Aikokusha was revived in 1878 and agitated with increasing success as part of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement
Freedom and People's Rights Movement
The was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in 1880s....
. The Movement drew the ire of the government and its supporters. In 1882, Itagaki was almost assassinated by a right-wing militant, to whom he allegedly said, "Itagaki may die, but liberty never!"
Leadership of the Liberal Party
Government leaders met at the Osaka Conference of 1875Osaka Conference of 1875
The was a meeting held by the major leaders of the Meiji Restoration in Osaka, Japan from January-February 1873 to address the issue of forming a representative assembly....
, enticing Itagaki to return as a sangi (councilor): however, he resigned after a couple of months to oppose what he viewed as excessive concentration of power in the Genrōin
Genroin
' was a national assembly in early Meiji Japan, established after the Osaka Conference of 1875. It is also referred to as the Senate of Japan, Genrōin being the word used to describe the Roman Senate, and other western legislatures named after it....
.
Itagaki created the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (Japan)
Liberal Party is the name of different political parties in different time periods in Japan.They are:*Liberal Party of Japan , founded by Itagaki Taisuke in October 1881. The party stood for popular rights and espoused the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The main objective of the party in the...
(Jiyuto) together with Numa Morikazu
Numa Morikazu
was a politician and journalist in Meiji period Japan.-Biography:Born to a samurai family in Edo in 1843, Numa was involved in scholarship at an early age. He learned English from James Curtis Hepburn in Yokohama, and was later sent to study western military science at Nagasaki...
in 1881, which, along with the Rikken Kaishintō
Rikken Kaishinto
The was a political party in Empire of Japan. It was also known as simply the ‘Kaishintō’.The Kaishintō was founded by Ōkuma Shigenobu on 16 April 1882, with the assistance of Yano Ryūsuke, Inukai Tsuyoshi and Ozaki Yukio. It received financial backing by the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, and had strong...
, led the nationwide popular discontent of 1880-1884. During this period, a rift developed in the movement between the lower class members and the aristocratic leadership of the party. Itagaki became embroiled in controversy when he took a trip to Europe believed by many to have been funded by the government. The trip turned out to have been provided by the Mitsui
Mitsui
is one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Japan and one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.-History:Founded by Mitsui Takatoshi , who was the fourth son of a shopkeeper in Matsusaka, in what is now today's Mie prefecture...
Company, but suspicions that Itagaki was being won over to the government side persisted. Consequently, radical splinter groups proliferated, undermining the unity of the party and the Movement. Itagaki was offered the title of Count (Hakushaku) in 1884, as the new peerage system known as kazoku
Kazoku
The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...
was formed, but he accepted only on the condition that the title not be passed on to his heirs.
The Liberal Party dissolved itself on 20 October 1884. It was reestablished shortly before the opening of the Imperial Diet
Diet of Japan
The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...
in 1890 as the Rikken Jiyūtō.
In April 1896, Itagaki joined the second Ito administration
Ito Hirobumi
Prince was a samurai of Chōshū domain, Japanese statesman, four time Prime Minister of Japan , genrō and Resident-General of Korea. Itō was assassinated by An Jung-geun, a Korean nationalist who was against the annexation of Korea by the Japanese Empire...
as Home Minister
Home Ministry (Japan)
The ' was a Cabinet-level ministry established under the Meiji Constitution that managed the internal affairs of Empire of Japan from 1873-1947...
. In 1898, Itagaki joined with Ōkuma Shigenobu
Okuma Shigenobu
Marquis ; was a statesman in the Empire of Japan and the 8th and 17th Prime Minister of Japan...
of the Shimpotō
Shimpoto
' was a short-lived political party in Meiji period Japan.The Shimpotō was founded by Ōkuma Shigenobu in March 1896, as a merger of the Rikken Kaishintō and minor political parties to offset a temporary alliance between Ōkuma's rival, Itō Hirobumi and the Jiyuto.In June 1898, the Shimpotō merged...
to form the Kenseitō
Kenseito
The was a political party in the Meiji period Empire of Japan.The Kenseitō was founded in June 1898, as a merger of the Shimpotō headed by Ōkuma Shigenobu and the Jiyūtō led by Itagaki Taisuke, with Ōkuma as party president. The merger gave the new party an overwhelming majority in the Lower House...
, and Japan's first party government. Ōkuma became Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Japan
The is the head of government of Japan. He is appointed by the Emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among its members, and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office...
, and Itagaki continued serving as Home Minister. The Cabinet collapsed after four months of squabbling between the factions, demonstrating the immaturity of parliamentary democracy at the time in Japan.
Legacy
Itagaki is credited as being the first Japanese party leader and an important force for liberalismLiberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
in Meiji Japan. He was elevated to the peerage
Kazoku
The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...
posthumously, and given the rank of hakushaku (count).
His portrait has appeared on the 50-sen and 100-yen banknotes issued by the Bank of Japan
Bank of Japan
is the central bank of Japan. The Bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chuo, Tokyo.-History:Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was founded after the Meiji Restoration...
.
Genealogy
- Inui family（Itagaki family） Their clan name is Minamoto(Seiwa-Genji).
In this house, Edo period was a samurai in the Tosa clan from generation to generation.
Knight(senior samurai). Original Itagaki used "Jiguro-bishi (Kage-hanabishi)" for the family
crest with Takeda of the effect for the same family. However, Inui used "Kayanouchi Jyumonji"(Aduchi Period - Meiji Period), "Tosa Kiri"(Meiji Period - now).
∴Itagaki Suruganokami
Nobukata
┃
┣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃Itagaki Yajiro ┃Sakayori Seizaburo ┃Ozo(Itagaki) Nobuyasu's wife
Nobunori Masamitsu woman
┃
┃
┃Inui Kahei
Masanobu
┃
┃
┃Inui Kinemon
Masayuki
┃
┣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━┓
┃Inui Yosobei ┃Inui Ichirobei┃Inui Gengoro
Masasuke Masanao Tomomasa
┃ ┃
┣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓ ┃
┃Inui Shoemonnojyo ┃Inui Jyujiro ┃Inui Shichirozaemon
Masakata unknown Masafusa
┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━━━┓ ┃ ┃
┃Inui Kasuke┃Inui Yosozaemon ┃Inui Tosuke ┃Inui Yagobei
unknown Masakiyo unknown Yoshikatsu
┃ ┃
┏━━━━━━╋━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━┓ ┣━━━━━━━━┓
┃Inui Kasuke┃Inui Dainojyo┃Nakayama Uhyoe┃Inui Shirodayu┃Inui Ichirobei┃Inui Seijiro
Naotake Naotsuru Hidenobu Tsurumasa Masahide Masanaru
┃ ┃
┃ ┃
┃Inui Jyoemon ┃Inui Takubei
Masaakira Masatoshi
┃ ┃
┣━━━━━━━━━┓ ┣━━━━━━━━┓
┃Inui Shoemon ┃Nomoto Kume ┃Inui Sahachi ┃Motoyama Hikoya
Nobutake Nobuteru Masaharu Shigeyoshi
┃ ┃
┣━━━━━━━━━┓ ┣━━━━━━━┓
┃Inui Eiroku ┃ ┃Inui Yotaro ┃Inui Ichirobei
Masashige woman Masakatsu Masahiro
┃ ┃
┣━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━┳━━┳━━┓ ┃
┃Itagaki Taisuke ┃Inui Kume ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃Inui
Masakata unknown woman woman woman Seishi
┃ ┃
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┃Itagaki┃Inui ┃Araki ┃Itagaki ┃Inui ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃Inui ┃ ┃
Hokotaro Seishi Magozaburo Masami Muichi Hyo Gun Yen Chiyoko Ryoko Ichiro Miyoshi Cho
┃ ┃
┣━━━━┳━━━━━┳━━━━━┓ ┃
┃Itagaki┃Yamanouchi┃Itagaki ┃Ozaki ┃Takaoka
Takeo Morimasa Syokan Tadashi Mariko
┃ ┃
┃ ┣━━━━┳━━━━┓
┃ ┃Akiyama┃Itagaki┃Itagaki
woman Noriko Taitaro Naomaro
┃
┏━━━━┫
┃ ┃
woman man
Source
"Kai Kokushi". Matsudaira Sadayoshi. 1814. Japan.(Aduchi-Momoyama period part)
"Kwansei-choshu Shokafu". Hotta Masaatsu, Hayashi jyussai. 1799. Japan.(Aduchi-Momoyama period part)
"Osamuraichu Senzogaki-keizucho"(Edo period part)
Family
- Wife 1:(daughter of Tosa domain samurai) Hayashi Masunojo Masamori's younger sister. (Name unknown)
- Wife 2:(2nd daughter of Tosa domain samurai Nakayama Yaheiji Hidemasa) (Name unknown)
- Wife 3: Rin (daughter of Tosa domain samurai Kotani Zengoro) Born on September 10, 1840. Marriage in 1859. Died on June 28, 1885.
- Wife 4: Kinuko, adopted daughter of ViscountViscountA viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...
Fukuoka TakachikaFukuoka TakachikaViscount was a Japanese statesman of the Meiji period.- Early life :Fukuoka was born in Tosa District in present-day Kōchi Prefecture, and served the Yamauchi daimyō of Tosa as a domain official...
. Araki Isoji's 7th daughter. (Born on June 8, 1859. Married on March 6, 1889. Died on April 13, 1938.
- Eldest son:Itagaki Hokotaro - Born on July 4, 1868. His mother's family name is Kotani.
- 2nd son (Illegitimate eldest son):Inui Seishi - Born on April 18, 1868. His mother was Doctor Hagiwara Fukusai's daughter, Yaku.
- 3rd son (Illegitimate 2nd son):Araki Magozaburo - Born on October 6, 1885. His mother was Araki Isoji's 7th daughter Kinu. (He was born before his mother married Itagaki.)
- 4th son:Itagaki Masami - Born on April 4, 1889. His mother's family name was Fukuoka. (He had same mother as Magozaburo.)
- 5th son:Inui Muichi - Born on November 14, 1897. His mother's family name was Fukuoka.
- Eldest daughter:Hyo - She married Kataoka Kumanosuke. Born on August 4, 1860. Her mother's family name was Kotani.
- 2nd daughter:Gun - She married Miyaji Shigeharu. Born on April 20, 1864. Her mother's family name was Kotani.
- 3rd daughter:Yen - She divorced the first Yasukawa Jinichi. After that, she remarried to photographer Ogawa Kazuma. Born on May 16, 1872. Her mother's family name was Kotani.
- 4th daughter:Chiyoko - She married Asano Taijiro (Asano Souichiro Jr.). Born on April 12, 1893. Her mother's family name was Fukuoka.
- 5th daughter:Ryoko - She married Oyama Tomoe. Born on January 1, 1895. Her mother's family name was Fukuoka.