Count , was a Japanese statesman during the early

Meiji period The was 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 colonizatio ...

. He was Governor of Tokyo in 1868 and a member of the Japanese Privy Council in 1889.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ōki Takatō" in .

Biography

Ōki was born into a ''

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

'' family in

Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

, in

Hizen province was an old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan in the area of the Saga Prefecture, Saga and Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen Province, Ch ...

(present-day

Saga prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of roughly 780,000 and has a geographic area of . Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasaki Prefect ...

). He studied at the domain school ''Kodokan'', and promoted reform of the domain administration. During the Boshin War he was a leader in the Saga forces committed to the overthrow of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, he supervised the transfer of the imperial capital from

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, and was appointed the first Governor of Tokyo. In 1871, he became Education Minister and is credited with establishing Japan's modern educational system. In 1873, he became ''sangi'' (councillor) and in 1876, Justice Minister and was concerned with the punishment of the disgruntled ex-''samurai'' involved in the Hagi Rebellion and the Shimpūren Rebellion. In 1880, he became chairman of the '' Genrōin'' . He also worked on developing Japan's

civil code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property law, property, family law, family, and law of obligations, obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdiction ...

as the president of the ‘Civil Code Compiling Council’. In 1884, he was elevated to the title of ''hakushaku'' (count) in the new ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. It was formed by merging the feudal lords (''Daimyo, daimyō'') and court nobles (''kuge'') into one system modelled after the British peerage. Distin ...

'' peerage system. From 1888 he served on the Privy Council, becoming chairman in 1889. Later he was appointed Justice Minister under the first Yamagata administration, and the Education Minister under the first Matsukata administration. His eldest son, Ōki Enkichi was also a politician, and a cabinet member during the Taishō period.

Notes

References

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OCLC 579232
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OCLC 12311985

OCLC 46731178
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OCLC 58053128
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OCLC 427566169

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oki, Takato samurai 1832 births 1899 deaths People from Saga (city) Kazoku People of the Meiji era Nabeshima retainers Ministers of justice of Japan Education ministers of Japan