was a Japanese politician and a significant member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He was speaker of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

of which he was a member for 53 years.

Early life and education

Sakurauchi was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

on 8 May 1912. He was the son of

Yukio Sakurauchi was an entrepreneur, politician and cabinet minister in the pre-war Empire of Japan. He was the father of prominent post-war politician Yoshio Sakurauchi, and grandfather of controversial politician Seiichi Ota. Life Sakurauchi was born in fo ...

, a lower house member and finance minister. Yoshio Sakurauchi attended the Keio schools from kindergarten through

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowment ...

. His brother, Kimio, served as president (from 1961) and chairman of the board of directors (from 1971) at Chugoku Electric.

Career

Sakurauchi began his political career in 1947 when he was first elected to the lower house of Parliament. His constituency included Kashima. He served at the lower house for 18 terms. He was also once elected to the upper house, serving there for 19 months. He held different ministerial and party posts in his career. In addition, he was leader of the Kano faction in the LDP. This faction was renamed as the Nakasone faction in 1965. His leadership of the faction lasted until 1989. Then the faction was headed by

Michio Watanabe was a Japanese political figure. He was born in Ōtawara, Tochigi and graduated from the Tokyo College of Commerce (now Hitotsubashi University) in 1942. He worked as a reporter for the ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', a certified tax accountant, and a me ...

. In addition, he served as foreign minister, agriculture minister, minister of international trade and industry and construction minister.

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 is ...

Hayato Ikeda was a Japanese bureaucrat and later politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1960 to 1964. He is best known for his Income Doubling Plan, which promised to double Japan's GDP in ten years. Ikeda is also known for repairing U.S.- ...

appointed Sakurauchi the minister of international trade and industry on 18 July 1964. Sakurauchi continued to serve in the same post in the next cabinet headed by Prime Minister

Eisaku Satō was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1972. He is the third-longest serving Prime Minister, and ranks second in longest uninterrupted service as Prime Minister. Satō entered the National Diet in 1949 as a membe ...

, but he was fired and replaced by

Miki Takeo was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1974 until 1976. Early life and family Takeo Miki was born on 17 March 1907, in Gosho, Tokushima Prefecture (present-day Awa, Tokushima), the only child of farmer-merchant H ...

in June 1965. On 28 April 1977, Sakurauchi was appointed construction minister to the government of

Takeo Fukuda was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1976 to 1978. Early life and education Fukuda was born in Gunma, capital of the Gunma Prefecture on 14 January 1905. He hailed from a former samurai family and his father was mayor ...

in a cabinet reshuffle, replacing Shiro Hasegawa in the post. Sakurauchi served as construction minister until 7 December 1978. He was appointed the secretary general of the LDP on 16 November 1979. During his term, he called for making the

Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, 1894–1895 and 1937–1945 resp ...

a state shrine. His term lasted until 30 November 1981 when he was named foreign minister. Susumu Nikaido replaced him as the secretary general of the LDP. He was appointed foreign minister in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Zenkō Suzuki on 30 November 1981, replacing

Sunao Sonoda was Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who served as minister for foreign affairs and minister of health and welfare. He was called "flying foreign minister" due to his active diplomacy in increasing the role of Japan whe ...

in the post. Sakurachi also served as the head of the LDP's chief policy-making body. In addition, he was appointed

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of Japan's lower house of parliament on 27 February 1990, replacing

Hajime Tamura (5 May 1924 – 1 November 2014) was a Japanese politician. He held different cabinet posts and served as the speaker of the House of Representatives. Early life and education Tamura was born in Matsuzaka, Mie Prefecture, in 1924. In 1950, he ...

in the post. In January 1992, he argued that the United States' economic problems resulted from its work force since the US workers were "too lazy" to compete with Japan, and that nearly a third of its workers "cannot even read." Sakurachi's term as speaker ended on 18 June 1993 and

Takako Doi was a prominent Japanese politician from 1980 until her retirement in 2005. She was the first female Lower House Speaker in Japan, the highest position a female politician has ever held in the country's modern history, as well as the country ...

became the speaker. Besides these positions, Sakurauchi was named as the first chairman of the League for Japan-Vietnam Friendship that was established by Japanese and Vietnamese politicians in 1974 to promote mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and Vietnam. Sakurauchi was not included in the LDP's proportional representation list for the 25 June 2000

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, and he stated that he would retire from politics. Eventually, he retired from politics in June 2000.

Death and funeral

Sakurauchi died of respiratory failure at a Tokyo hospital on 5 July 2003. He was 91. His funeral service was held at Ikegami Hommonji Temple in Tokyo's Ota Ward on 8 July 2003.

Honors

In 1986, Sakurauchi, a former board member of the Boy Scouts of Japan and President of the Scout Parliamentary Caucus, received the 185th

Bronze Wolf Award The Bronze Wolf Award is bestowed by the World Scout Committee (WSC) to acknowledge "outstanding service by an individual to the World Scout Movement". It is the highest honor that can be given a volunteer Scout leader in the world and it is the ...

of the

World Scout Committee The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest international Scouting organization. WOSM has 173 members. These members are recognized national Scout organizations, which collectively have around 43 million participants. WOSM ...

for services to world

Scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth Social movement, movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hik ...

. In 1981 he also received the highest distinction of the

Scout Association of Japan The is the major Scouting organization of Japan. Starting with boys only, the organization was known as Boy Scouts of Japan from 1922 to 1971, and as Boy Scouts of Nippon from 1971 to 1995, when it became coeducational in all sections, leading to ...

, the

Golden Pheasant Award The is the highest award for adult leaders in the Scout Association of Japan. It is awarded by the Chief Scout of Japan, awarded for eminent achievement and meritorious service to the Association for a period of at least twenty years. It may be ...

. The

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

, in 1989, for his contributions to public affairs.

References

External links

* , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakurauchi, Yoshio 20th-century Japanese politicians 1912 births 2003 deaths Foreign ministers of Japan Government ministers of Japan Keio University alumni Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Recipients of the Bronze Wolf Award Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in public affairs Scouting in Japan Speakers of the House of Representatives (Japan)