was a bureaucrat, politician, and cabinet minister in the government of the pre-war

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

, as well as in post-war Japan.

Background

Ishiguro was born in

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 ...

. His father, Ishiguro Tadanori was the Commander-in-chief of the medical corps of

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

, and president of the Japan Red Cross. He graduated from the predecessor to

Kagoshima University , abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university located in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. History The university was established in 1949 consolidating the following schools because of educational reform in occupied Japan. * - e ...

before obtaining a degree in law from

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

in 1908. On graduation, he was accepted into the

Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce The was a cabinet-level ministry in the government of the Empire of Japan from 1881-1925. It was briefly recreated as the during World War II History The original Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce was created on April 7, 1881, initially under ...

. Active in literary circles, he was a member of a coterie established by

Nitobe Inazō was a Japanese people, Japanese author, educator, agricultural economist, diplomat, politician, and Protestantism, Protestant Christians, Christian during the late Meiji (era), Meiji era. Early life Nitobe was born in Morioka, Iwate, Morioka, ...

, with Yanagida Kunio as one of its members. In 1914, the ministry sent him to Europe to study agricultural policies, and he rose to the position of chief of the Agricultural Policy Bureau in 1919. In 1924, he turned to agricultural reform by publishing a survey on

tenant farming A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

practices and sponsoring a bill for mediation in tenant farmer disputes, and for the creation of medical cooperatives in rural areas. He then served as director of the Silk Bureau. In 1931, he was promoted to undersecretary of Agriculture. However, he retired from the ministry in 1934, subsequently serving as president of a Rural Welfare Association. However, Ishiguro was selected by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Fumimaro Konoe Prince was a Japanese politician and prime minister. During his tenure, he presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World W ...

to become Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in 1940. During this time, he was very active in promoting rural relief measures, and also served as Immigration Association President and Chairman of the Japan Agricultural Research Institute. He also strove to implement agriculture reforms and tenant farmer relief measures to

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

, where many Japanese farmers had resettled. However, Ishiguro was adamantly opposed to the

Tripartite Alliance The Tripartite Alliance is an alliance between the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). The ANC holds a majority in the South African parliament, while ...

of Japan with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and Fascist Italy. Ishikugo resigned in 1941, citing illness. His father died the same year, and per the provisions of his father’s will, he did not inherit 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 title of viscount held by his father. In January 1943, he was granted a seat in the House of Peers in 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 1945, he returned to the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce under the Suzuki administration. In 1946, after the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

, as with all members of the prewar and wartime Japanese government, Ishiguro was

purged In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...

by the American occupation authorities. Following the

occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States wi ...

, in 1952 Yoshino successfully ran for a seat from the

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

constituency in the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, ...

of the

. He served on the Research Commission on the post-war

Constitution of Japan The Constitution of Japan (Shinjitai: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn: ) is the constitution of Japan and the supreme law in the state. Written primarily by American civilian officials working under the Allied occupation of Japan, the constitution r ...

, as well as president of the National Farmers Federation, director of the National Chamber of Agriculture, and other agricultural-related organizations; however, he refused any key positions in national politics. His promotion of social activism by bureaucrats in the ministry to favor small farmers came to be known as “Ishiguroism” within the Japanese bureaucracy.Chalmers. ''Miti and the Japanese Miracle''. Page 89

References

*Johnson, Chalmers. ''Miti and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy : 1925-1975''. Stanford University Press (1982) *Rodwin, Marc A. '' Conflicts of Interest and the Future of Medicine ''. Oxford University Press (2011) *Waswo, Ann. '' Farmers and Village Life in 20th Century Japan '' . Psychology Press (2011) * Vanoverbeke, Dimitri. '' Community and State in the Japanese Farm Village. Leuven University Press (2004),

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishiguro, Tadaasu Government ministers of Japan Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Members of the House of Councillors (Japan) University of Tokyo alumni Kagoshima University alumni Politicians from Tokyo 1884 births 1960 deaths