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 ...

, remembered chiefly for his role in the unsuccessful

Saga Rebellion The was an 1874 uprising in Kyūshū against the new Meiji government of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Saga no ran" in . It was led by Etō Shinpei and Shima Yoshitake in their native domain of Hizen province, Hizen. Background Fo ...

Early life and Meiji bureaucrat

Etō was born into a crestless and poor

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 Yae (modern-day

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 Prefectures of Saga and

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

), on the island of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

. He lived near the house of Sagara Chian (Tomoyasu) who also played an influential role in Meiji Japan. In 1848 Etō entered the school of the Nabeshima Clan and soon drew attention as a gifted young man, but after his father lost his employment, he continued his studies in a private school run by Edayoshi Shinyō, an ardent adherent of National Studies (''

Kokugaku was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Edo period. scholars worked to refocus Japanese scholarship away from the then-dominant study of Chinese, Confucian, and Buddhist texts in favor of ...

''). Together with other ambitious young samurai such as

Ōkuma Shigenobu Marquess was a Japanese politician who served as the prime minister of Japan in 1898, and from 1914 to 1916. Born in the Saga Domain, Ōkuma was appointed minister of finance soon after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, aided by his friendship w ...

, Soejima Taneomi,

Ōki Takatō Count , was a Japanese statesman during the early Meiji period. 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 ''sam ...

, Shima Yoshitake, Etō joined the ''Gizai-dōmei'' ("Ceremonial League") established by Edayoshi in 1850. Three years later he wrote a paper (''Tokaisaku''), in which he propagated the opening of Japan and a series of plans to gain economic and military strength. After his marriage (1857) he worked for the Saga domain. During 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 coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

to overthrow 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 ...

, he served as a general in the imperial army. 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 ...

, Etō was appointed to a number of posts, including that of

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in 1872, and was responsible for drafting Japan's first modern

penal code A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain Crime, offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that ...

the ''(Kaitei Ritsurei).'' In 1873, he became a ''sangi'' (Councilor) in the

Daijō-kan The , also known as the Great Council of State, was (i) (''Daijō-kan'') the highest organ of Japan's premodern Imperial government under the Ritsuryō legal system during and after the Nara period or (ii) (''Dajō-kan'') the highest organ of Jap ...

, but resigned the same year, after the '' Seikanron'' proposal made by

Saigō Takamori Saigō Takamori (; 23 January 1828 – 24 September 1877) was a Japanese samurai and politician who was one of the most influential figures in Japanese history. He played a key role in the Meiji Restoration, which overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate ...

to invade

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

was rejected.

Anti-government agitator and rebel

After resigning from the government, Etō returned home to his native Saga, and gathered together a group of disaffected former ''samurai'' who were unhappy with the current regime and loss of their social and economic privileges. He formed the '' Aikoku Kōtō'' political party which criticized the government and called for the formation of a national assembly. Receiving little support, he then resorted to armed insurrection (the

), gathering some 3000 followers, attacking a local bank for funds, and capturing government offices. The revolt was quickly suppressed by government forces under

Ōkubo Toshimichi Ōkubo Toshimichi (; 26 September 1830 – 14 May 1878) was a Japanese statesman and samurai of the Satsuma Domain who played a central role in the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the Three Great Nobles of the Restoration (維新の� ...

, and Etō, along with 13 other ringleaders, was executed. Then their heads were displayed in public. It was the ultimate sanction in Japan.

Reference and further reading

* Duus, Peter. ''The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895–1910 (Twentieth-Century Japan - the Emergence of a World Power, 4).'' University of California Press (1998). . * Hane, Mikiso. ''Modern Japan: A Historical Survey''. Westview Press (2001). * Harries, Meirion. ''Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army''. Random House; Reprint edition (1994). * Najita, Tetsuo. ''Japan: The Intellectual Foundations of Modern Japanese Politics''. University Of Chicago Press (1980). * Ryōtarō Shiba 1971 ''Saigetsu'' (

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

External links

Source material kept by the Saga Prefecture Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eto, Shimpei samurai 1834 births 1874 deaths Meiji Restoration People from Saga (city) People of the Meiji era Nabeshima retainers Aikoku Kōtō politicians People executed by Japan by decapitation

Early life and Meiji bureaucrat

Anti-government agitator and rebel

See also

Reference and further reading

External links