Konoe Atsumaro

Konoe Atsumaro

Konoe Atsumaro ( Japanese 近衞 篤 麿 ; * October 10, 1863 ( Japanese calendar: Bunkyū ( 文 久 ) 3/6/26) in Kyōto ; † January 1, 1904 ) was a Japanese politician of the early Meiji period with strong anti-Russian tendencies.

Life path

Konoe Atsumaro was the adopted son and half-brother of the "Chancellor to the Left" Konoe Tadafusa ( 近衛 忠 房 ; † 1873) and Shimazu Nariaki ( 島 津 斉 彬 ). At the age of 10, under the tutelage of his grandfather Tadahiros ( 近衛 忠 煕 ), he became head of the family when his half-brother died. He was married when he was 7 and 9 years old. As part of the nobility reform in 1884 he received princely rank ( Kōshaku ).

At 13, he began preparing for university entry, but had health problems. After he had acquired Chinese, English and German language skills at the noble school, he studied between 1884 and 1890 in Bonn , Leipzig and Austria.

With his main wife Sawa († 1892) the fifth daughter of Maeda Yoshiyasu ( 前 田 慶 寧 ), he was married for 22 years and had a son Fumimaro , who later became Prime Minister. His second wife († 1888), the younger sister of his first, gave birth to a daughter and three sons in the 16 years of their marriage. The second, Count Hidemaro , became known as a conductor and composer.

After his return he became a member of the manor house ( Kizokuin ) in 1890 , of which he was spokesman from 1896 (until 1903). He also worked after 1898 as president of the Hokkaido Society and the pan-Asian Tōa Dōbunkai ( 東 亜 同 文 会 ), which from 1901 had its seat in Shanghai . Domestically, he turned against politics based on family ties.

He was active in foreign policy as a rabid opponent of Russia in the Kokumin Dōminkai , which he co-founded, and the "Anti-Russian Society" ( 対 露 同志 会 , Tairo Dōshikai ) created in August 1903 . He advocated military expansion in China and into Manchuria and was one of the loudest advocates of war against Russia, but died before hostilities broke out .

From 1895 to 1903 Atsumaro, to whom the education of young people was important, was the director of the school for the children of the Japanese nobility, the Gakushūin ( 学習 院 ).

He was buried in 1904 in the family cemetery in Daitoku-ji in Kyoto.

Literature and works

His diaries were published in six volumes in 1968-9.

swell

• Berend Wispelwey (Ed.): Japanese Biographical Archive . Fiche 167, KG Saur, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-598-34014-1

Web links

• Short biography in the National Parliamentary Library (English)

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