was a politician and cabinet minister in early

Shōwa period Shōwa may refer to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufacturer, affiliated with the Honda keiretsu Japanese eras * Jōwa (Heian ...

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 ...

. His brother, Zenbei Horikiri was also a politician and prominent member of the Rikken Seiyūkai political party.

Biography

Horikiri was born in

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...

. After his graduation 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 ...

, he entered the

Home Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

. As Director of the Censorship Department within the Home Ministry from 1917 to 1918, he ordered that publication of articles in newspapers concerning the

Rice Riots of 1918 The were a series of popular disturbances that erupted throughout Japan from July to September 1918, which brought about the collapse of the Terauchi Masatake administration. Causes A precipitous rise in the price of rice caused extreme econom ...

be banned, as they appears to be inciting violence. From 1925 to 1926, Horikiri was governor of

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

. The following year, he returned to the Home Ministry as Director of the Reconstruction Bureau, which was in charge of

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

and the rebuilding of Tokyo in the aftermath of the

Great Kantō earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

. In 1929, Horikiri was appointed Mayor of

Tokyo City was a Cities of Japan, municipality in Japan and part of Tokyo Prefecture (1868–1943), Tokyo-fu which existed from 1 May 1889 until its merger with its prefecture on 1 July 1943. The historical boundaries of Tokyo City are now occupied by ...

, and at the end of 1930 was Vice Minister of the Ministry of Colonial Affairs. In 1932, in the administration of Prime Minister

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 ...

, Horikiri served as Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, and in 1933 was appointed

Chief Cabinet Secretary The is a member of the cabinet and is the leader and chief executive of the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan. The Chief Cabinet Secretary coordinates the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch, and also serves as the government ...

. The same year, he was appointed to a seat in the

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

of 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 ...

. Following 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 ...

, Horikiri was appointed Home Minister under the Shidehara administration. During his tenure, he sponsored election reform laws to lower the minimum

voting age A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain before they become eligible to vote in a public election. The most common voting age is 18 years; however, voting ages as low as 16 and as high as 25 currently exist ( ...

to twenty, and to enable were enacted on

women’s suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

and eligibility for seats on in the Diet. The laws were passed in the Diet in December 1945, despite reservations by some members that this action would lend support to extremist (particularly leftist) elements. As a result of the election law reforms, Koreans and Taiwanese resident in Japan lost their rights to vote in Japanese elections, as Horikiri judged that they had lost their Japanese

nationality Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a ''national'', of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the ...

with Japan’s acceptance of the

Potsdam Declaration The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, Uni ...

, and would thenceforth need to be treated as resident foreigners.Watt, ''When Empire Comes Home'', page 95 At the end of his term of office, Horikiri was placed on purged list of those banned from holding government office. Following the end of the occupation, Horikiri served from 1954 to 1969 as the

Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the presiding officer of the National Public Safety Commission, which is the parent agency of the National Police Agency. The chairperson holds the rank of minister of state, and is a statutory memb ...

References

* Kornicki, Peter F. '' Meiji Japan. Routledge (1998). *Kono,Masaru. '' Japan’s Postwar Party Politics''. Princeton University Press. (1997) *Hunter, Janet. '' A Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History ''. University of California Press (1994). *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horikiri, Zenjiro 1884 births 1974 deaths Politicians from Fukushima Prefecture University of Tokyo alumni Government ministers of Japan Ministers of Home Affairs of Japan Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Governors of Kanagawa Prefecture