was a Japanese politician and Governor of the
Bank of Japan from 1898 to 1903. He was also a member of the
House of Peers and served as a cabinet minister in the pre-war government of the
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 Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...
.
Early life
Yamamoto was born in
Usuki Ōita Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kum ...
. He was the younger son of a
samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
family of
Usuki Domain. After 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
, at 19 he moved to
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
, and at 22 to
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
, where he studied at a school run by the
Mitsubishi company.
Career
Yamamoto's first employment was as a teacher at the Osaka University of Commerce. At 26, he was appointed its principal.
In 1883, Yamamoto turned towards commerce, and obtained a position at the Mitsubishi-affiliated shipping firm
Nippon Yusen
Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Mail Shipping Line), also known as NYK Line, is a Japanese shipping company and is a member of the Mitsubishi ''keiretsu''. The company headquarters are located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It operates a flee ...
, in which he rapidly rose through the corporate ranks. In 1890, he joined the
Bank of Japan (BOJ), and in 1895 was appointed the chairman of the
Yokohama Specie Bank
was a Japanese bank founded in Yokohama, Japan in the year 1880. Its assets were transferred to The Bank of Tokyo (now MUFG Bank) in 1946. The bank played a significant role in Japanese overseas trade, especially with China. The original b ...
. In April 1896, in order to better acquaint himself with issues pertaining to the
gold standard
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the l ...
, he travelled to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, and while still in England the following year, was appointed to the board of directors of the Bank of Japan. In October 1898, at the strong request of Bank of Japan governor Iwasaki Yasunosuke, he was recalled to Japan to assume the role of governor of the Bank of Japan. He had been with the Bank of Japan for eight years and was 43 years old at the time.
Yamamoto served as BOJ Governor from October 20, 1898, to October 19, 1903. During his tenure, the Japanese economy experienced various crisis pertaining to
foreign exchange
The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...
issues and the gold and
silver standard
The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. Silver was far more widespread than gold as the monetary standard worldwide, from the Sumerians 3000 BC until 1873. Following ...
s. However, his greatest concern was the increasing budget deficits incurred by the Japanese government. As head of the Bank of Japan, Yamamoto refused to yield to political pressure from the
Japanese Diet
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 parall ...
, the
Cabinet, and the ''
genrō
was an unofficial designation given to certain retired elder Japanese statesmen who served as informal extraconstitutional advisors to the emperor, during the Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa eras in Japanese history.
The institution of ''genrō ...
'' to alter his
fiscal policies. When political pressure was applied to his subordinates, causing eleven senior managers to resign in protest, Yamamoto used the opportunity to fill the positions with his supporters. Yamamoto’s actions were critical in preserving the future independence of the Bank of Japan from politics. In 1903, the combined efforts of
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 samu ...
and
Yamagata Aritomo
'' Gensui'' Prince , also known as Prince Yamagata Kyōsuke, was a senior-ranking Japanese military commander, twice-elected Prime Minister of Japan, and a leading member of the '' genrō'', an élite group of senior statesmen who dominated J ...
managed to dislodge Yamamoto from his position. He was then appointed as a member of the
House of Peers, and in 1909 became the head of
Nippon Kangyō Ginkō
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 ...
.
In 1911,
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 i ...
Saionji Kinmochi
Prince was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1906 to 1908 and from 1911 to 1912. He was elevated from marquis to prince in 1920. As the last surviving member of Japan's ''genrō,'' he was the most i ...
decided that he needed an expert in the field of finance to reform the
Finance Ministry
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
during his second cabinet, and appointed Yamamoto to become Finance Minister. This was the first time that a businessman had been selected to head a cabinet post, and set a precedent for selecting business executives to head ministries focused on economics or finance. However, with a looming financial crisis in the aftermath of 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 ...
, Yamamoto strongly opposed the
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 ...
’s demands for additional funding to support an increase in the number of
infantry division
A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 6,000 and 25,000 soldiers.
In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. Histo ...
s. This issue led directly to the collapse of the Saionji cabinet in 1912.
[Ozawa, The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio. Pg 269] Afterwards, Yamamoto joined the
Rikken Seiyūkai political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
.
After the start of the
Taishō period, during the 1st
Yamamoto Gonnohyōe
, was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and twice Prime Minister of Japan from 1913 to 1914 and again from 1923 to 1924.
Biography Early life
Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima in Satsuma Province (now Kagoshima Prefecture) as the sixth son ...
administration, Yamamoto was picked to become
Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. Yamamoto also picked another former Bank of Japan governor,
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 developm ...
, to head the Finance Ministry, hoping for a through fiscal revamp of the Japanese government. However, his cabinet was soon brought down by the
Siemens scandal. Yamamoto returned again as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce under the subsequent
Hara and Takahashi administrations from 1918 to 1922.
In 1925, Yamamoto joined the new ''
Seiyūhontō
The Seiyūhontō (, lit. ''Orthodox Constitutional Friends Party'') was a political party in Japan. It was active from 1924 until 1927.
History
The party was established on 29 January 1924 following a split in the Rikken Seiyūkai over Prime M ...
'' party, along with
Hatoyama Ichirō Hatoyama (written: 鳩山, lit. ''dove mountain'') may refer to:
People with the surname
* Hatoyama family, a prominent Japanese political family
**Kazuo Hatoyama (1856–1911), academic and politician
**Haruko Hatoyama (1861–1938), educator and ...
; however, the party failed to gain popular support and soon merged with the ''
Kenseikai
The was a short-lived political party in the pre-war Empire of Japan.
History
The ''Kenseikai'' was founded on 10 October 1916, as a merger of the '' Rikken Dōshikai'' (led by Katō Takaaki), '' Chūseikai'' (led by Ozaki Yukio) and the '' ...
'' to form the ''
Rikken Minseitō
was one of the main political parties in pre-war Empire of Japan. It was commonly known as the ''Minseitō''.
History
The ''Minseitō'' was founded on 1 June 1927, by a merger of the ''Kenseikai'' and the ''Seiyu Hontō'' political parties. I ...
''. However, as a former member of the rival ''Seiyūkai'', Yamamoto found himself excluded from the highest ranks of the party leadership, and passed over for any important positions until 1932, when he was appointed as
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 ...
under the
Saitō Makoto
Viscount was a Japanese naval officer and politician. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Saitō Makoto"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 809. Upon distinguishing himself during his command of two cruisers in the First Sino-Japanese War, Saitō rose ...
administration in the aftermath of the
March 15 incident
The was a crackdown on socialists and communists by the Japanese government in 1928. Among those who were arrested in the incident was the Marxist economist Kawakami Hajime.
Background
Although the Japan Communist Party had been outlawed and for ...
. As Home Minister, he presided over a more severe interpretation of the
Peace Preservation Laws.
Yamamoto continued to serve in the House of Peers until is dissolution by 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 constitutio ...
, and died in 1947 at the age of 91. His grave is at
Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.
Notes
References
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*
External links
Bank of Japan page on Yamamoto(in Japanese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamamoto, Tatsuo (politician)
1856 births
1947 deaths
20th-century Japanese politicians
Ministers of Finance of Japan
Government ministers of Japan
Governors of the Bank of Japan
Members of the House of Peers (Japan)
Politicians from Ōita Prefecture
Rikken Minseitō politicians
Rikken Seiyūkai politicians
People from Usuki, Ōita