Count was a statesman in

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

Japan. He was a protégé of the leading oligarch

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 ...

.As cabinet secretary 1892-1898, he was a powerbroker between the oligarchy and the political powers in the Diet. He grew increasingly conservative and became a watchdog and defender of the constitution in his role as privy councillor, 1899-1934. Biographer George Akita calls him a political failure.George Akita, "The Other Itō: A Political Failure." in Albert Craig, ed. ''Personality in Japanese History'' (1970): 335-72.

Biography

Itō was born into a local ''

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 ...

'' administrator's family in

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

Hizen Province was an old province of Japan in the area of the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō. It did not incl ...

(present-day

Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the northeast. N ...

). From his early days, he showed a mastery of foreign languages. In the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

he worked as a translation official for Hyōgo Prefecture specializing in

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 ...

, and was later selected to accompany

(no relation—the Chinese characters for their names being different) to Europe in 1882 to investigate the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

s and governmental structures of various European counties, with the aim of creating a constitution for Japan. After his return to Japan, he assisted

Inoue Kowashi Viscount Inoue Kowashi was a Japanese statesman of the Meiji period. Biography Early life Inoue was born into a '' samurai'' family in Higo Province (present-day Kumamoto Prefecture), as the third son of ''Karō'' Iida Gongobei. In 1866 ...

and

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 ro ...

in drafting the

Meiji Constitution The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: , ), known informally as the Meiji Constitution (, ''Meiji Kenpō''), was the constitution of the Empire of Japan which was proclaimed on February 11, 1889, and remained in for ...

, and was subsequently nominated to the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan. In 1892, he became Chief Cabinet Secretary in

's second administration, and in 1898, served as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce under the third Itō administration. At the same time, Itō Miyoji was also president of the pro-government newspaper, the ''Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun'' (the predecessor to the modern ''

Mainichi Shimbun 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'' (previ ...

''). From 1899, Itō Miyoji served as a member of the Privy Council. In 1907, he was ennobled with the title of ''danshaku'' ( baron) under 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 system. He was further elevated to ''hakushaku'' (

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

) in 1922. In his later years, Itō was the bane of civilian government through his consistent and conservative use of the ''Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun'' to inflame public opinion. During the

Shōwa financial crisis The was a financial panic in 1927, during the first year of the reign of Emperor Hirohito of Japan, and was a foretaste of the Great Depression. It brought down the government of Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirō and led to the domination of ...

, he brought out the collapse of the administration of

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 ...

Wakatsuki Reijirō Baron was a Japanese politician and Prime Minister of Japan. Early life Wakatsuki Reijirō was born on 21 March 1866, in Matsue, Izumo Province (present day Shimane Prefecture), the second son of samurai foot soldier (''ashigaru'') Okumura Se ...

through a virulent bad-press campaign. He also strongly criticized Prime Minister

Hamaguchi Osachi Hamaguchi Osachi (Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: , also Hamaguchi Yūkō, 1 April 1870 – 26 August 1931) was a Japanese politician, cabinet minister and Prime Minister of Japan from 1929 to 1931. Nicknamed the due to his dignified demeanor and mane- ...

for signing the London Naval Treaty on arms limitations as infringing on the direct prerogatives of the emperor. Itō died in 1934. His grave is at

Tsukiji Hongan-ji , sometimes archaically romanized ''Hongwan-ji'', is a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temple located in the Tsukiji district of Tokyo, Japan. The temple is adjacent to Tsukiji Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line. History Tsukiji Hongan-ji's p ...

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, ...

References and further reading

* Akita, George. "The Other Itō: A Political Failure." in Albert Craig, ed. ''Personality in Japanese History'' (1970): 335-72. *Gordon, Andrew. ''A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present.'' Oxford University Press, 2003. *Sims, Richard. ''Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000.'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.

References

External links

National Diet Library Photo & Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Miyoji 1857 births 1934 deaths Politicians from Nagasaki Prefecture Kazoku People of Meiji-period Japan Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Government ministers of Japan