Count was a Japanese statesman of the

Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, 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 feu ...

. He was a protégé of the leading oligarch

Itō Hirobumi Kazoku, Prince , born , was a Japanese statesman who served as the first prime minister of Japan from 1885 to 1888, and later from 1892 to 1896, in 1898, and from 1900 to 1901. He was a leading member of the ''genrō'', a group of senior state ...

. As cabinet secretary 1892-1898, he was a powerbroker between the oligarchy and the political powers in 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 ...

. He grew increasingly conservative and became a watchdog and defender of the constitution in his role as privy councillor, 1899-1934. Biographer George Akita calls him a political failure.George Akita, "The Other Itō: A Political Failure." in Albert Craig, ed. ''Personality in Japanese History'' (1970): 335-72.

Biography

Itō was born into a local ''

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 ...

'' administrator's family in

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 ...

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

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...

). From his early days, he showed a mastery of foreign languages. In the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

he worked as a translation official for

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

specializing in English, and was later selected to accompany

(no relation—the ''kanji'' characters for their names being different) to Europe in 1882 to investigate the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

s and governmental structures of various European counties, with the aim of creating a constitution for Japan. After his return to Japan, he assisted Inoue Kowashi and Kaneko Kentarō in drafting the

Meiji Constitution The Constitution of the Empire of Japan ( Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: , ), known informally as the Meiji Constitution (, ''Meiji Kenpō''), was the constitution of the Empire of Japan which was proclaimed on February 11, 1889, and remained in ...

, and was subsequently nominated to the House of Peers of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

. In 1892, he became Chief Cabinet Secretary in

's second administration, and in 1898, served as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce under the third Itō administration. At the same time, Itō Miyoji was also president of the pro-government newspaper, the ''Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun'' (the predecessor to the modern ''

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English-language news website called , and publishes a bilin ...

''). From 1899, Itō Miyoji served as a member of the Privy Council. In 1907, he was ennobled with the title of ''danshaku'' (

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

) under the ''

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. He was further elevated to ''hakushaku'' (

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: ...

) in 1922. In his later years, Itō was the bane of civilian government through his consistent and conservative use of the ''Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun'' to inflame public opinion. During the Shōwa financial crisis, he brought out the collapse of the administration of

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Wakatsuki Reijirō through a virulent bad-press campaign. He also strongly criticized Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi for signing the

London Naval Treaty The London Naval Treaty, officially the Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament, was an agreement between the United Kingdom, Empire of Japan, Japan, French Third Republic, France, Kingdom of Italy, Italy, and the United Stat ...

on arms limitations as infringing on the direct prerogatives of the emperor. Itō died in 1934. His grave is at Tsukiji Hongan-ji in

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 ...

References and further reading

* Akita, George. "The Other Itō: A Political Failure." in Albert Craig, ed. ''Personality in Japanese History'' (1970): 335-72. *Gordon, Andrew. ''A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present.'' Oxford University Press, 2003. *Sims, Richard. ''Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000.'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.

References

External links

National Diet Library Photo & Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Miyoji 1857 births 1934 deaths Politicians from Nagasaki Prefecture Kazoku People of the Meiji era Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Government ministers of Japan