Ōtori Keisuke

Ōtori Keisuke

Ōtori Keisuke as a samurai

Ōtori Keisuke ( Japanese 大鳥 圭介 ; born April 14, 1833 in Kamigōri (上郡 町) in the province of Harima ; died June 15, 1911 ) was a Japanese military and later a government official of the Meiji period .

life and work

Ōtori Keisuke was initially a samurai under the shogunate . He first studied western science under Ogata Kōan in Osaka, then military science under Egawa Tarōzaemon in Edo . In the fighting that ended with the Meiji Restoration in 1868, he took part as an opponent of the imperial side in northern Japan. In the end he joined Enomoto Takeaki , who had retired to the Goryōkaku fortress on Hokkaidō .

After the defeat of the Tokugawa side, Ōtori was imprisoned, but was pardoned in 1872. He then directed the aristocratic school, which later developed into Gakushūin University . He represented Japan in China from 1889, then in Korea from 1893 and played an important role in Japan's foreign relations up to the Sino-Japanese War from 1894 to 1895.

A bronze statue was erected in front of the town hall in Ōtori's birthplace Kamigōri.

Remarks

1. ↑ Today a part of Hyogo Prefecture .

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Ōtori Keisuke . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1172.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Ōtori is the family name, Keisuke the first name.