Count was a Japanese politician, diplomat, and Prime Minister of Japan from 1924 until his death on 28 January 1926, during the period which historians have called " Taishō Democracy". He was also known as Katō Kōmei.

Early life

Katō, was born as Hattori Sokichi, the second son of a former '' samurai'' retainer of the

Owari Tokugawa The is a branch of the Tokugawa clan, and it is the seniormost house of the '' Gosanke'' ("three honourable houses of the Tokugawa").Nagoya,

Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces were ...

, in the town of Saya, Ama District in what is now part of the city of Aisai,

Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...

. He was adopted by Katō Bunhei at the age of 13, and attended Tokyo Imperial University, from which he graduated at the top of his class from the Law Department, specializing in English common law. After graduation, he worked as an employee of

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

'' zaibatsu,'' and was sent to London for two years. On his return to Japan in 1885, he became an assistant manager at the Mitsubishi head office in

Marunouchi Marunouchi () is a commercial district of Tokyo located in Chiyoda between Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace. The name, meaning "inside the circle", derives from its location within the palace's outer moat. It is also Tokyo's financial di ...

, Tokyo. In 1886, he married Haruji, the eldest daughter of Iwasaki Yatarō, the president of Mitsubishi.

As cabinet minister and ambassador

In 1887, Katō became private secretary to Ōkuma Shigenobu, who was then Minister of Foreign Affairs, and worked with Ōkuma on the revision of the unequal treaties. Subsequently, he served as director of the Banking Bureau in the Finance Ministry. From 1894 to 1899, he served as envoy to the United Kingdom, and in 1900, during the 4th Itō administration, he became Foreign Minister; however, the Ito administration remained in office only a few months. During his period in the United Kingdom and in the Foreign Ministry, he helped lay the foundations for the

Anglo-Japanese Alliance The first was an alliance between Britain and Japan, signed in January 1902. The alliance was signed in London at Lansdowne House on 30 January 1902 by Lord Lansdowne, British Foreign Secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, Japanese diplomat. A dip ...

, which was concluded in 1902. In 1902 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet from Kōchi Prefecture. Appointed again as Foreign Minister in the Saionji cabinet (1906), he resigned after a brief interval, being opposed to the

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the private railways, which the cabinet approved. He then remained without office until 1908, when he accepted the post of ambassador in London. He received an honorary GCMG, and earned the reputation of being one of the strongest among the junior statesmen. He resigned his post as ambassador in December 1912, and again served as Foreign Minister in the 3rd Katsura and 2nd Ōkuma administrations, but soon resigned. He created a Constitutionalist party, becoming its president in 1913, and joined the cabinet as Foreign Minister in April 1914. He was thus foreign minister at the outbreak of World War I, and in the words of

Hew Strachan Sir Hew Francis Anthony Strachan ( ), (born 1 September 1949) is a British military historian, well known for his leadership in scholarly studies of the British Army and the history of the First World War. He is currently professor of internati ...

(''The First World War'', p. 72): ''"Of all the world's statesmen in 1914, Katō proved the most adroit at using war for the purposes of policy. Domestically he exploited it to assert the dominance of the Foreign Ministry and of the cabinet in the making of Japan's foreign policy. Internationally he took the opportunity to redefine Japan's relationship with China. In doing so he was not simply outflanking the extremists opposed to him; he was also honouring his own belief that Japan should be a great power like those of Europe."'' Katō's decision that Japan should enter World War I greatly angered the '' genrō,'' who had not been consulted, and who therefore felt that their power and authority were being slighted. In addition, Katō created considerable controversy in January 1915, when he issued the Twenty-One Demands to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, which sparked a major international incident and considerable opposition domestically.

As Prime Minister

Takaaki Kato Rekidai Shusho tou Shashin 2

In 1915, Katō was selected as a member of the House of Peers by Imperial command. He became president of the conservative '' Kenseikai'' political party in the following year, whose policies he greatly influenced with his opposition to the ''genrō'', support of the constitution and support for extension of popular

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

. Katō was appointed Prime Minister of Japan from 1924 until his death in early 1926. His cabinet was nicknamed the ''"Goken Sanpa Naikaku"'' (Cabinet based on the three pro-Constitution factions), which, despite its

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

nature, was able to enact significant legislation. In 1925, Katō had the General Election Law enacted, which extended the vote to all male citizens over the age of 25. He also ratified the

Peace Preservation Law The was a Japanese law enacted on April 22, 1925, with the aim of allowing the Special Higher Police to more effectively suppress socialists and communists. In addition to criminalizing forming an association with the aim of altering the ''kokuta ...

, which suppressed leftist political organizations, and concluded the Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention. He also initiated universal military service. Katō strove to reduce government spending, but also suffered considerable personal criticism for his family links with Mitsubishi.

Death

Katō Takaaki died in office from pneumonia in 1926, aged 66.

Honours

''From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia'' *Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (28 December 1902) *Baron (24 August 1911) *Viscount (14 July 1916) *Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (14 July 1916) *Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (28 January 1926; posthumous) *Count (28 January 1926; posthumous)

Notes

References

* Beasley, W.G. ''Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945''. Oxford University Press. * Buruma, Ian. ''Inventing Japan: 1853-1964''. Modern Library; (2004) * Toyoda, Jo. ''Kato Takaaki to Taisho demokurashi (Meiji Taisho no saisho)''. Kodansha. (Japanese)

External links

* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kato, Takaaki 1860 births 1926 deaths 20th-century prime ministers of Japan Politicians from Aichi Prefecture Prime Ministers of Japan Foreign ministers of Japan Kazoku Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George People of Meiji-period Japan Members of the House of Representatives (Empire of Japan) Kenseikai politicians Ambassadors of Japan to the United Kingdom Japanese anti-communists