Inoue Kaoru

Inoue Kaoru

Inoue as a young samurai

Margrave Inoue Kaoru ( Japanese 井上 馨 , also Inoue Bunda ( 井上 聞 多 ); * January 16, 1836 in the Principality of Chōshū , Suō Province (today: Yamaguchi Prefecture ); † September 1, 1915 ) was a Japanese politician of the Meiji period .

Life

Inoue, a samurai of the Chōshū - han , joined the anti-foreigner movement "Honor the Emperor, Drive Out the Barbarians" ( Sonnō jōi ) and participated in the 1863 attack on the British embassy initiated by Takasugi Shinsaku and others. He recognized the need to get to know the West and set out for England in 1863. During the voyage he made friends with Itō Hirobumi and Yamao Yōzō (1837-1917). After six months in England, Inoue and Itō returned to mediate in the conflict between Chōshū and the foreign powers. After that, Inoue played an important role in the formation of theSatsuma-Chōshū alliance with the aim of overthrowing the shogunate . Inoue survived a Conservative attack and continued to play an important role in defeating the Tokugawa government .

After the establishment of the Meiji government in 1868, Inoue became a member of the government, initially working in the Foreign Ministry , then in 1871 became Deputy Minister of Finance . His efforts to strengthen the government's finances included reforming land taxation, eliminating state salaries for all samurai, and promoting industry. The resistance of conservative circles to this financial policy forced him and his colleague Shibusawa Eiichi to resign. Inoue then developed relationships with the Japanese economy, in particular with the Mitsui Group . He helped set up the trading company Senshū ( 先 収 会 社 , Senshūgaisha , a forerunner of Mitsui Bussan ), which helped strengthen the group.

For the "Osaka Conference of 1875" Inoue returned to the government and acted there as a mediator. In 1876 Inoue signed a friendship treaty with Korea as a special envoy. In 1878 he was appointed "advisor" ( 参議 , sangi ).

After his tenure as Minister of Industry ( Minister of Public Works , kōbu-kyō ) from 1878 to 1879, he became Foreign Minister and also retained the office after the introduction of the cabinet system in 1885. In this role, he worked on the revision of the " unequal contracts " that remained but unsuccessfully and resigned in September 1887.

Then Inoue was Minister of Agriculture and Trade in the Kuroda Cabinet from 1888 to 1889, Minister of the Interior from 1892 to 1894 and Minister of Finance in the second and third Ito cabinet in 1898 . He then withdrew from active politics, but, formally appointed in 1901, remained an influential " Senior Statesman ". From 1907 he was margrave ( kōshaku ) and as a member of the manor in the Reichstag .

Remarks

1. ↑ One of the issues at the conference was the establishment of a parliament.

literature

• Toshihiko Suzuki (Ed.): Nihon daihyakka zensho (Denshibukku-han). Shogakukan, 1996.
• S. Noma (Ed.): Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , pp. 608-609.
• Janet Hunter: Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Kodansha International, 1984, ISBN 4-7700-1193-8 .

Web links

Commons : Inoue Kaoru  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Inoue Kaoru. National Parliament Library , "ResearchNavi"

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