Viscount was a politician and bureaucrat in late Meiji and early Taishō period

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

Early life

The Ōura family was hereditary retainers to a branch of the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

. As a Satsuma

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

, Ōura Kanetaka participated in the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

and the suppression of the

Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei The was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War. Its flag was either a white interwoven five-pointed star on a black field, or a black ...

during the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. Under the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

, he joined the fledgling Japanese police force, working his way up through the ranks until he became Assistant Police Inspector of the

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department The , known locally as simply the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), is the prefectural police of Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Founded in 1874, the TMPD is the largest police force in Japan by number of officers, with a staff of more than 4 ...

. In this capacity, he was field commander of the police forces sent to assist the fledgling

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

in suppressing his fellow Satsuma countrymen in the

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the , was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government of the Empire of Japan, nine years into the Meiji era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in ...

Political career

After serving as appointed governor of

Shimane Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a ge ...

(1893–1895),

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). ...

(1895–1896),

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture t ...

(1896–1898) and

Miyazaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,028,215 as of 1 January 2025 and has a geographic area of 7,735 Square kilometre, km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefectur ...

(1898), Ōura was appointed Superintendent General of the Police, and was given a seat in the House of Peers of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

. One of his proposals while in charge of the police was to relocate impoverished residents of central Osaka to a new planned town in the outskirts, on the theory that poverty was the cause of disease and crime. The plan failed due to strong local opposition. In 1903, under the 1st Katsura administration, Ōura became Minister of Communications. He then served as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce under the 2nd Katsura cabinet and was also chairman of the Japanese committee organizing the

Japan–British Exhibition The took place at White City, London in Great Britain from 14 May 1910 to 29 October 1910. It was the largest international exposition that the Empire of Japan had ever participated in. It was driven by the Japanese government's desire to shake ...

. In 1907, he was raised to the rank and title of ''danshaku'' (

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

) under the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. It was formed by merging the feudal lords (''Daimyo, daimyō'') and court nobles (''kuge'') into one system modelled after the British peerage. Distin ...

'' peerage system. He subsequently served as

Home Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

under the 3rd Katsura cabinet and as both Minister of Agriculture and Trade and Home Minister under the 2nd Ōkuma administration. In 1911, his title was elevated to that of ''shishaku'' (

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

Ōura scandal

In December 1914, while in the Ōkuma administration, Ōura was accused of perpetrating

voting fraud Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representatives ...

in the Diet by bribing minor political party and undecided members to influence passage of a military spending bill introduced by Ōkuma to fund two new infantry divisions for the

. A long-time associate of Katsura, Ōura was one of the founding members and leaders of the

Rikken Dōshikai The Rikken-Dōshi Kai () was a political party active in the Empire of Japan in the early years of the 20th century. It was also known as simply the Dōshikai. Founded by Prime Minister Katsura Tarō on February 7, 1913, the ''Rikken Dōshikai' ...

political party, and used his position as Home Minister to influence the 1915 General Election in favor the party. Both issues resulted in an upsurge in public criticism from the press and opposition parties, leading to his resignation from the Cabinet in 1915. page 206-207 This incident came to be known as the

Ōura scandal of 1915 was one of several spectacular political scandals of late Meiji period, Meiji and Taishō periods in Japanese history. After the entry of Japan into World War I, the administration of Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigeno ...

Later life

In his final years, Ōura served as chairman of the ''

Dai Nippon Butoku Kai (DNBK, , ) was the largest martial arts organization in Japan with strong ties to WWII-era Japanese government, originally established in 1895 in Kyoto and had the biggest influence on Budo in modern Japan. The first president was Imperial Prin ...

''. Ōura died in 1918 at the age of 68.

Notes

References

* * Lebra-Chapman, Joyce. ''Okuma Shigenobu: statesman of Meiji Japan''. Australian National University Press (1973). * * Mochizuki, Kotarō. (1910) ''Japan To-day. A Souvenir of the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition held in London, 1910.'' Tokyo: Liberal News Agency
OCLC 5327867
* 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). *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oura, Kanetake samurai 1850 births 1918 deaths Politicians from Kagoshima Prefecture Shimazu retainers People of the Boshin War People of the Meiji era Government ministers of Japan Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Kazoku Ministers of home affairs of Japan Governors of Kumamoto Prefecture Rikken Dōshikai politicians 20th-century Japanese politicians Place of death missing Governors of Yamaguchi Prefecture Governors of Miyagi Prefecture Governors of Shimane Prefecture People of the Satsuma Rebellion Recipients of the Order of the Plum Blossom