Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

(27 October 1858 – 26 February 1936) was a Japanese naval officer and politician. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Saitō Makoto"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 809. Upon distinguishing himself during his command of two cruisers in the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

, Saitō rose rapidly to the rank of

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

by 1900. He was promoted to vice admiral during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

in 1904. After serving as Minister of the Navy from 1906 to 1914, Saitō held the position of

Governor-General of Korea Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

from 1919 to 1927 and again from 1929 to 1931. When Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated in May 1932, he took his place as

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 ...

and served one term in office. Saitō returned to public service as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal in February 1935 but was assassinated only a year later during the February 26 Incident. Saitō along with

Takahashi Korekiyo Viscount was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1921 to 1922 and Ministry of Finance (Japan), Minister of Finance when he was assassinated. He was also a member of the House of Peers (Japan) ...

were the last former prime ministers of Japan to be assassinated until 2022, with the assassination of

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

Early life

Saitō was born in Mizusawa Domain, Mutsu Province (part of present-day Ōshū City

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

), as the son of 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 ...

'' of the Mizusawa Clan. In 1879, he graduated from the 6th class Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, ranking third out of a class of 17 cadets. He was commissioned an

ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

on September 8, 1882, and promoted to sub-lieutenant on February 25, 1884.

Military career

In 1884, Saitō went to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for four years to study as a

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

. Promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 14 July 1886; in 1888, after returning to Japan, he served as a member of the

Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff The was the highest organ within the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). In charge of planning and operations, it was headed by an Admiral headquartered in Tokyo. History Created in 1893, the Navy General Staff took over operational (as opposed to a ...

. After his promotion to lieutenant commander on 20 December 1893, he served as

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

on the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

and

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

. During the

, Saitō served as captain of the

s and . He received rapid promotions to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

on 1 December 1897 and to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 27 December. On 10 November 1898, he became Vice Minister of the Navy, and was promoted to

on 20 May 1900.

Political career

Saitō was again Vice Navy Minister at the start of the

. He was promoted to vice admiral on June 6, 1904. He was awarded the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

(1st class) in 1906. After the end of the war, he served as Navy Minister for 8 years, from 1906 to 1914, during which time he continually strove for expansion of the navy. On 21 September 1907, Saitō 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. On October 16, 1912, he was promoted to full

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

. However, on 16 April 1914, Saitō was forced to resign from his post as Navy Minister due implications of his involvement in the Siemens scandal, and officially entered the reserves. In September 1919, Saitō was appointed as the third Japanese Governor-General of Korea. Rising to the post right after the

culmination In observational astronomy, culmination is the passage of a celestial object (such as the Sun, the Moon, a planet, a star, constellation or a deep-sky object) across the observer's local meridian. These events are also known as meridian tran ...

of the

Korean independence movement The Korean independence movement was a series of diplomatic and militant efforts to liberate Korea from Japanese rule. The movement began around the late 19th or early 20th century, and ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. As independence a ...

, he was subject to an immediate assassination attempt by Kang Woo-kyu, a radical Korean nationalist. He served as governor-general of Korea twice—in 1919–1927, and again in 1929–1931, implementing a series of measures to moderate Japan's policies on Koreans. He was awarded the

Order of the Paulownia Flowers The is an Order (decoration), order presented by the Japanese government. The award was established in 1888 during the Meiji Restoration as the highest award in the Order of the Rising Sun and has been an Order in its own right since 2003. The ...

in 1924. On 29 April 1925, his title was elevated to that of ''shishaku'' (

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

). In 1927, Saitō was a member of the Japanese delegation at the Geneva Naval Conference on Disarmament, and he later became a privy councillor.

Premiership (1932–1934)

Following the assassination 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 ...

Inukai Tsuyoshi Inukai Tsuyoshi (, 4 June 1855 – 15 May 1932) was a Japanese statesman who was Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1931 to his assassination in 1932. At the age of 76, Inukai was Japan's second oldest serving prime minister, ...

on 15 May 1932 by fanatical navy officers who thought Inukai far too conciliatory (the May 15 Incident), Prince

Saionji Kinmochi Kazoku, Prince was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1906 to 1908, and from 1911 to 1912. As the last surviving member of the ''genrō'', the group of senior statesmen who had directed pol ...

, one of the Emperor's closest and strongest advisors, attempted to stop the slide towards a military take-over of the government. In a compromise move, Saitō was chosen to be Inukai's successor.

Sadao Araki Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II. As one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the Empire of Japan, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the polit ...

remained as War Minister and immediately began making demands on the new government. During Saitō's tenure, Japan recognized the independence of

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

, and withdrew from the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. Saitō's administration was one of the longer-serving ones of the inter-war period, and it continued until 8 July 1934, when the cabinet resigned en masse because of the Teijin Incident bribery scandal. Keisuke Okada succeeded as prime minister.

Later career and assassination

Korekiyo Takahashi and Makoto Saito last pic together

Saitō continued to be an important figure in politics as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from 26 December 1935, but was assassinated during the February 26 Incident of 1936 at his home in

Yotsuya is an area in Shinjuku, Tokyo, that previously was a ward (四谷区 ''Yotsuya-ku'') in the now-defunct Tokyo City. In 1947, when the 35 wards of Tokyo were reorganized into 23, it was merged with Ushigome ward of Tokyo City and Yodobashi ...

, Tokyo. Takahashi, his predecessor, was shot dead the same day, along with several other top-rank politicians targeted by the rebels. Saitō was posthumously awarded the Supreme

Order of the Chrysanthemum is Japan's highest Order (decoration), order. The Grand Cordon of the Order was established in 1876 by Emperor Meiji of Japan; the Collar of the Order was added on 4 January 1888. Unlike European counterparts, the order may be Posthumous award, ...

Honours

''From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia''

Peerages

* Baron (21 September 1907) * Viscount (9 April 1925)

Decorations

* Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fourth Class (20 June 1899; Fifth Class: 25 November 1896; Sixth Class: 26 May 1893) * Order of the Golden Kite, Second Class (1 April 1906; Fourth Class: 23 May 1896) * Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1 April 1906; Second Class: 27 December 1901; Sixth Class: 23 May 1896) * Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (11 February 1924) * Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (26 February 1936; posthumous)

Foreign decorations

* : Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) (15 May 1906) * :

Order of the Red Eagle The Order of the Red Eagle () was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful service to the kingdom, o ...

, Knight 1st Class (26 February 1907) * : Knight Grand Class of the

Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus () (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the world, tracing its lineage to AD 1098, a ...

(1 July 1907) * : Grand Officer of the

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

(17 December 1907; Commander: 4 April 1901) * : Order of the White Eagle (1 May 1908) * : Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

(31 May 1911) * :

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

, 1st Class (22 March 1913) *

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

: ** Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Sylvester (17 January 1922) ** Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX (23 January 1932)Acta Apostolicae Sedis: Commentarium Officiale, Annus XXIV - Vol. XXIV, 1932, p. 104.
/ref>

Notes

References

* * * /; /
OCLC 49704795
* /
OCLC 44090600
* /; /
OCLC 45172740

External links

*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saito, Makoto 1858 births 1936 deaths People murdered in 1936 20th-century prime ministers of Japan Government ministers of Japan Ministers of the Imperial Japanese Navy Governors-general of Chōsen Imperial Japanese Navy admirals Military personnel from Iwate Prefecture People from Ōshū, Iwate Kazoku Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Assassinated prime ministers of Japan Assassinated Japanese military personnel Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Recipients of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia) Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Pope Pius IX Knights of the Order of St. Sylvester Assassinated nobility Deaths by firearm in Japan People murdered in Tokyo Ministers for foreign affairs of Japan Politicians from Iwate Prefecture Japanese naval attachés Imperial Japanese Naval Academy alumni Politicians assassinated in the 1930s Japanese politicians assassinated in the 20th century 20th-century Japanese politicians Government of the Empire of Japan Burials at Tama Cemetery