( – ), also known as Ueno Ryōtarō, was a Japanese samurai and

statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...

of the Meiji period (1868–1912). He was the first director of the Tokyo National Museum.

Biography

Youth

Machida Hisanari was born in 1838 in Shinshōin, an ancient village of the old Satsuma Province which became a district of Kagoshima in 1883. He was the eldest son of Machida Hisanaga, head of a samurai family in the service of

Shimazu Narioki was a Japanese feudal lord (''daimyō'') of the Edo period, the 27th in the line of Shimazu clan lords of Satsuma Domain (r. 1809–1851). He was the father of Shimazu Nariakira, Shimazu Hisamitsu Prince , also known as , was a Japanese samur ...

, the daimyō of the

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...

.. At the age of 19, he left his hometown and moved to

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

, the capital, in order to continue his studies.. Before his return to Satsuma, he spent more than three years at the Shōhei-zaka Gakumonjo (昌平坂学問所), a state-run academy under the control of the shogunate where Bakufu officials were trained..

Travel to Europe

In 1863, he was promoted to

Ōmetsuke were the censors or the inspectors of Tokugawa shogunate. They were ''bakufu'' officials ranking somewhat lower than the ''bugyō.'' The ''metsuke'' were charged with the special duty of detecting and investigating instances of maladministration ...

and participated as a military officer in the

Anglo-Satsuma War The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract compensation and legal justice from ''daimyo ...

where he had the future

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Tōgō Heihachirō Marshal-Admiral Marquis , served as a '' gensui'' or admiral of the fleet in the Imperial Japanese Navy and became one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. He claimed descent from Samurai Shijo Kingo, and he was an integral part of preserving ...

under his command. In the following year, he led a troop of 600 men to defend the Imperial Palace against a group of insurgents. In 1865, as a member of an official Japanese delegation, he spent a two-year study period in Europe, visiting the British Museum in London and, in Paris, the Louvre and National Museum of Natural History. He also participated in the

International Exposition of 1867 The International Exposition of 1867 (french: Exposition universelle 'art et d'industriede 1867), was the second world's fair to be held in Paris, from 1 April to 3 November 1867. A number of nations were represented at the fair. Following a dec ...

. During his European journey, he became familiar with the concept of

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...

and the impact of museums and educational programs on the public.

Return to Japan

Back in Japan at the beginning of the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

(January 1868 – June 1869), he was called to Kyoto with the mission of thwarting the plans of the Satchō Alliance, a military coalition dedicated to overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1870 he entered the service of the Meiji government, and became Secretary of State in the newly formed Ministry of Education. In this influential position, he strove to stop the devastation of the national historic heritage caused by the Meiji policy of separating Shinto and Buddhism and the violent anti-Buddhist movement ( Haibutsu kishaku) it triggered.. In 1874, he accepted the position of director of office of the first official World's Fair in the United States, the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. In 1882 he became the first director of the Imperial Museum in Tokyo (now called the Tokyo National Museum), but retired from this position later that year.

Retirement and death

In 1885 he joined the

Chamber of Elders Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations *Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics *Debate chamber, the space or room that houses deliber ...

. In 1889 he left the state apparatus and retired to the Buddhist monastery Mii-dera in Shiga Prefecture. Machida died 15 September 1897 in Tokyo. His tomb is located within the grounds of Kan'ei-ji, a Buddhist temple in the Ueno district of Tokyo, which was the '' Bodaiji'' of the Tokugawa dynasty during the Edo period (1603–1868).

References