was a Japanese statesman in the Meiji and Taishō periods.

Biography

Shōda was born in

Matsuyama Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now central Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Matsuyama Castle, and was ruled throughout most of its history by the '' shinpan ...

Iyo Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa Province (Tokushima), Awa to the east ...

on October 19 1869, as the 5th son of a 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 ...

''. The poet

Masaoka Shiki , pen-name of Masaoka Noboru (正岡升), was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry, credited with writing nearly 20,000 stanzas during ...

and admiral Akiyama Saneyuki were his friends from childhood. He graduated from

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

in 1895, and obtained a position at the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

. In 1915, he rose to the position of president of the

Bank of Chōsen The Bank of Chōsen (, ''Joseon Eunhaeng''), known from 1909 to 1911 as the Bank of Korea ( ''Kankoku Ginkō'', ''Hanguk Eunhaeng'') and transcribed after 1945 as Bank of Joseon, was a colonial bank that served as bank of issue for Korea under J ...

. He was appointed Finance Minister under the Terauchi and Kiyoura administrations, Metzler, ''Lever of Empire''. Page 147 and

Education Minister An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

under the Tanaka administration. In 1938, he was considered for the post of

Home Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

under the 2nd Konoe administration, a somewhat surprising choice, given his age and lack of experience in the Home Ministry, and the nomination was rejected by Emperor

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

. He died on October 10, 1948.

References

*Beasley. W.G. ''Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945''. Oxford University Press (1991) *Metzler, Mark. ''Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan.'' University of California Press (2006).

Notes

1869 births 1948 deaths People from Matsuyama, Ehime University of Tokyo alumni Ministers of finance of Japan Government ministers of Japan Education ministers of Japan {{Japan-bio-stub