Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

politician, intellectual and author, who lived in the Meiji and Taishō periods. Apart from his activity in the Japanese government, he also wrote several important works on

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. He was portrayed in a negative manner in

Ryōtarō Shiba , also known as , was a Japanese author. He is best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the r ...

's novel ''Saka no ue no kumo''.

Early life

Suematsu was born in the hamlet of Maeda in

Buzen Province was an old province of Japan in northern Kyūshū in the area of Fukuoka Prefecture and Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bungo Province. Buzen bordered on Bungo and Chikuzen Provinces. History The ruins of the ancient capital ...

, now part of Yukuhashi,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

. He was the fourth son of the village headman (''shōya''), Suematsu Shichiemon. His name was initially , he later changed it to the shorter Kenchō.NCBank biographical timeline of Suematsu's life
/ref> At the age of ten he enrolled in a private school where he pursued studies in Chinese (''kangaku'' 漢学). Suematsu went to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in 1871, and studied with and . In 1872, he briefly entered the

Tokyo Normal School Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, but left it soon after. It was around this time that he made the acquaintance of

Takahashi Korekiyo Viscount was a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Peers, as Prime Minister of Japan from 1921 to 1922, and as the head of the Bank of Japan and Ministry of Finance. Takahashi made many contributions to Japan's develop ...

. In 1874, at age 20, Suematsu began working for the ''

Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.4 ...

'' newspaper (predecessor to the ''

Mainichi Shinbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (prev ...

''), writing editorials under the pen name . During his time working for the newspaper, he was befriended by its editor,

Fukuchi Gen'ichirō was a Japanese critic and author, also known under the pseudonym . Biography Fukuchi Gen'ichirō was born in Nagasaki, Japan. He traveled Europe as a translator, and in 1874, became a main writer for the ''Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun To ...

Suematsu at Cambridge

Suematsu arrived in London in 1878 with the Japanese embassy which was dispatched there, and enrolled in

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1881. He graduated with a law degree from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

(

St. John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

) in 1884, returning to Japan in 1886.

Political activities

Suematsu was elected to the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

in 1890. Suematsu served as Communications Minister (1898) and

Home Minister The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minist ...

in his father-in-law

Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the ''genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated samur ...

's fourth cabinet, 1900–01. He had married Itō's second daughter Ikuko in 1889 when he was 35 and she was 22. As they were from clans which had fought in the 1860s (Kokura and Chōshū), he joked about his marriage as "taking a hostage". Suematsu was influential in the founding of Moji port in 1889, approaching

Shibusawa Eiichi was a Japanese industrialist widely known today as the "father of Japanese capitalism". He spearheaded the introduction of Western capitalism to Japan after the Meiji Restoration. He introduced many economic reforms including use of double-en ...

for finance. He also worked to improve the moral standards of Japanese theatre and founded a society for drama criticism. Suematsu was raised to the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ' ...

'' peerage in 1895, when he was made a

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

(''danshaku'').Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', p. 361–362. From 1904 to 1905 Suematsu was sent by the Japanese cabinet to Europe to counteract anti-Japanese propaganda of the

Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racist, racial color terminology for race, color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a ...

variety (e.g. Russian or German circles) and argue Japan's case in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, much as Harvard-educated

Kaneko Kentarō was a statesman, diplomat, and legal scholar in Meiji period Japan. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he drew on his connections in the American legal community over the course of his long career in Japanese government, particularly in his role ...

was doing at the request of Itō Hirobumi at the same time in the United States.Lister, ''The Japan-British Exhibition of 1910: Gateway to the Island Empire of the East'', p. 94. He was promoted to

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

(''shishaku'') in 1907.

Literary activities

Suematsu was also active as a writer of English works on Japanese subjects. His works include the first English translation of '' Genji Monogatari'' (which he wrote while at Cambridge) and several books on aspects of Japanese culture. * Kenchio Suyematz, trans. ''Genji Monogatari : The Most Celebrated of the Classical Japanese Romances''. London: Trubner, 1882. * Baron Suematsu, ''A Fantasy of Far Japan; or, Summer Dream Dialogues''. London: Constable, 1905. * Kenchio Suyematsu, ''The Risen Sun''. London: Constable, 1905.

Notes

References (books and articles)

* ''Suematsu Kencho: International Envoy to Wartime Europe'', Ian Nish i
'On the Periphery of the Russo-Japanese War Part II'
STICERD Discussion paper, LSE, No. IS/05/491, May 2005 *

', by Noboru Koyama, translated by Ian Ruxton, (Lulu, September 2004, ) * "Suematsu Kencho, 1855-1920: Statesman, Bureaucrat, Diplomat, Journalist, Poet and Scholar," by Ian Ruxton, Chapter 6, ''Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits'', Volume 5, edited by

Hugh Cortazzi Sir Arthur Henry Hugh Cortazzi, (2 May 1924 – 14 August 2018) was a British diplomat. He was also a distinguished international businessman, academic, author and prominent Japanologist. He was Ambassador from the United Kingdom to Japan ...

, Global Oriental, 2005, * O'Brien, Phillips P. (2004). ''The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902-1922''. (London: RoutledgeCurzon). * Lister, Ayako Hotta (1995). ''The Japan-British Exhibition of 1910: Gateway to the Island Empire of the East''. (London: Routledge). * Cobbing, Andrew (1998). ''The Japanese Discovery of Victorian Britain''. (London: Routledge). * M. Matsumura, ''Pōtsumasu he no michi: Kōkaron to Yōroppa no Suematsu Kenchō'', pub. Hara Shobo, 1987, translated by Ian Ruxton with the English title ''Baron Suematsu in Europe during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05): His Battle with Yellow Peril'' (lulu.com, 2011)
preview
* M. Mehl (1993). "Suematsu Kenchô in Britain, 1878-1886", ''Japan Forum'', 5.2, 1993:173-193. * Henitiuk, Valerie L. (2010). ''A Creditable Performance under the Circumstances? Suematsu Kenchô and the Pre-Waley Tale of Genji.'' I
TTR : traduction, terminologie, redaction
Vol. XXIII, no. 1, p. 41-70. *

External links

is at Yukuhashi city, Fukuoka prefecture. He was born there. * * * * Contains a translation of the first 17 chapters of ''The Tale of Genji'', with an introduction and footnotes, by Suematsu. * , available here from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

. , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Suematsu, Kencho 1855 births 1920 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 19th-century Japanese historians Japanese diplomats Japanese writers English-language writers from Japan People from Yukuhashi, Fukuoka Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Government ministers of Japan Ministers of Home Affairs of Japan Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom Kazoku Japanese people of the Russo-Japanese War People of Meiji-period Japan Deaths from Spanish flu Members of the House of Representatives (Empire of Japan) Politicians from Fukuoka Prefecture Writers from Fukuoka Prefecture 19th-century Japanese politicians