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 ...

was a Japanese

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

. He was the

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan ( Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of S ...

in 1924, during the period which historians have called the " Taishō Democracy".

Early life

Kiyoura was born Ōkubo Fujaku in Kamoto, Higo Province (part of present-day

Yamaga, Kumamoto is a city in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on April 1, 1954. On January 15, 2005, Yamaga absorbed the towns of Kahoku, Kamoto, Kaō and Kikuka (all from Kamoto District) to create the new and expanded city of Yamaga. As o ...

), as the fifth son of Ōkubo Ryōshi, the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

of Menshōji Temple. He studied at the private school of Hirose Tanso from 1865 to 1871. During this time, he befriended Governor Nomura Morihide and took up the name "Kiyoura Keigo".

Political career

Nomura was appointed governor of

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

in 1873 and appointed Kiyoura to a junior-grade civil service position there. In 1876, at the age of twenty-six, Kiyoura joined the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Justi ...

, and served as a prosecutor and helping draft Japan's first modern

Criminal procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail o ...

s laws. In 1884 he caught the attention of

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 ...

who appointed him head of the police forces in Japan, despite his relative youth of 34. Kiyoura went on to serve as Vice Minister of Justice, and Minister of Justice and while at the Ministry of Justice, he helped draft the

Peace Preservation Law The was a Japanese law enacted on April 22, 1925, with the aim of allowing the Special Higher Police to more effectively suppress socialists and communists. In addition to criminalizing forming an association with the aim of altering the ''kokuta ...

of 1887. In 1891, he was selected as a member of the House of Peers by Imperial nomination. A close ally of

, he was rewarded with numerous cabinet positions, including that of Justice Minister in the second Matsukata and second Yamagata administrations, and Justice, Agriculture and Commerce ministers in the first Katsura administration. In 1902, Kiyoura was elevated to the title of

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 kn ...

(''danshaku'') in 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 received the 1st class of the Order of the Sacred Treasures the following year, and in 1906 was awarded with the 1st class of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight f ...

. In September 1907, his title was elevated 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 judicia ...

(''shishaku''). In 1914, while he was Chairman of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

, Kiyoura received an imperial order appointing him

following Yamamoto Gonnohyōe. However, Kiyoura declined the post because of the controversy involving the ongoing

Siemens scandal of January 1914 involved collusion between several high-ranking members of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the British company Vickers, and the German industrial conglomerate of Siemens AG. It was one of several spectacular political scandals of la ...

and

Ōkuma Shigenobu Marquess was a Japanese statesman and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy. He served as Prime Minister of the Empire of Japan in 1898 and from 1914 to 1916. Ōkuma was also an early advocate of Western science and culture in Japan, ...

was chosen to become prime minister instead.

As prime minister

Kiyoura accepted a second imperial order in 1924 following the Toranomon Incident, and become 23rd

. However, his cabinet was formed at a time when non-partisan, aristocratic cabinets were falling out of favor, and the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

held up most of his initiatives for all six months of his administration. Perhaps the most important event during his term as prime minister was the royal wedding of Crown Prince

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

(the future Emperor Shōwa) with Nagako Kuniyoshi (the future

Empress Kōjun , born , was a member of the Imperial House of Japan, the wife of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and the mother of Shigeko Higashikuni, Princess Sachiko Hisa-nomiya, Kazuko Takatsukasa, Atsuko Ikeda, the Emperor Emeritus Akihito, Prince Masahito ...

) on 26 January 1924. In 1924, he dissolved the

Lower House A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

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 paral ...

when faced with the three party coalition of the '' Kenseikai'', ''

Rikken Seiyūkai The was one of the main political parties in the pre-war Empire of Japan. It was also known simply as the ''Seiyūkai''. Founded on September 15, 1900, by Itō Hirobumi,David S. Spencer, "Some Thoughts on the Political Development of the Japane ...

'' and ''

Kakushin Club The Kakushin Club (, "Reformist Club") was a political party in Japan. History The party was established on 8 November 1922 as a merger of the Rikken Kokumintō (29 National Diet members), the Mushozoku Club (14 Diet members) and three indepen ...

'' which had formed a majority in Diet of more than 150 seats. As a result of his massive rout in the subsequent general election, his cabinet resigned en masse. In November 1928, Kiyoura was elevated to the title of

(''hakushaku''). He was posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum in 1942.

Honours

''From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia''

Peerages

*Baron (27 February 1902) *Viscount (21 September 1907) *Count (10 November 1928)

Decorations

*Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (26 December 1903; Second Class: 26 June 1897; Third Class: 29 December 1895; Fourth Class: 28 December 1893; Fifth Class: 26 December 1890) *Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1 April 1906; Sixth Class: 25 November 1887) *Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (4 September 1920) *Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (5 November 1942; posthumous)

Notes

References

* Bix, Herbert P. (2000). '' Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan.'' New York:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

. ; * Hane, Mikiso. ''Modern Japan: A Historical Survey''. Westview Press (2001). * Jansen, Marius B. (2000). ''The Making of Modern Japan.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
OCLC 44090600
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

.
OCLC 58053128

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiyoura, Keigo 1850 births 1942 deaths 20th-century prime ministers of Japan Prime Ministers of Japan People from Kumamoto Prefecture Kazoku Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Government ministers of Japan Ministers of Home Affairs of Japan People of Meiji-period Japan Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure Politicians from Kumamoto Prefecture