Kuroda Kiyotaka

Kuroda Kiyotaka ( Japanese 黒田清隆 , also Ryōsuke ( 了介 ); born November 9, 1840 in Satsuma province ; died August 23, 1900 ) was a Japanese politician and diplomat of the Meiji period . - Count since 1884 .

Life

Kuroda fought against Bakufu in the Boshin War and then became involved in the new government after the Meiji Restoration in 1868. When Kumamoto Castle was besieged during the Satsuma Rebellion , he succeeded in defeating that of Tani Tateki and Yamakawa Hiroshi ( 山川浩 ; 1845–1898) held castle. He became lieutenant general, in 1870 deputy head of the Kaitaku-shi (~ "development office" for Hokkaidō, which was not yet recognized as a prefecture ) and in 1874 its head. In 1881 Kuroda was embroiled in a financial scandal related to the economic development of Hokkaidō, but he remained in charge of the bureau until it was dissolved in 1882.

As a special ambassador, Kuroda signed the Japanese-Korean friendship treaty in Korea in 1876 . He also took part in the suppression of the Satsuma rebellion and was able to liberate Kumamoto Castle , which was besieged by the rebels . In 1882 Kuroda became a member of the State Council, cabinet advisor and then Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. As Prime Minister from 1888 to 1889, he headed Japan's second cabinet made up of members of the Meiji oligarchy , which openly advocated “transcendentalism”. The cabinet discussed the promulgation of a constitution, but ultimately overturned the revision of the “unequal treaties” with the Western powers proposed by Ōkuma Shigenobu .

Kuroda was then a member of the Secret Council of State until 1882 and head of the same from 1895 to 1900. Until his death, Kuroda belonged to the Genrō , the statesmen who were among the closest advisors at the court and who usually selected the prime minister.

literature

S. Noma: Kuroda Kiyotaka. In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , pp. 608-609.
Kuroda Kiyotaka. In: Janet Hunter (Ed.): Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Kodansha International, 1984, ISBN 4-7700-1193-8 .

Web links

National Parliamentary Library , 史料にみる日本の近代 / Modern Japan in Archives : 超然主義 / Transcendental Cabinets (Japanese / English) on Kuroda's speech on the proclamation of the constitution, in which he coined the term “transcendental” government

Remarks

↑ In 1881 Kuroda received permission from the central government, which invested 14 million yen in the construction to a group of entrepreneurs from Osaka, led by Gōdai Tomoatsu ( 五代友厚 ; 1836–1883), with close ties to Satsuma and Chōshū -Han , now worth 30 million yen, on unusually favorable terms. The general criticism about it led to the cancellation, but the political damage could not be repaired anytime soon.
↑ 超然主義 CHOZEN shugi , the term in political discourse of the Meiji Era: Government without / against (bourgeois) political parties that had formed in prefectural and local parliaments and from 1890 in future by the elected House of Representatives in the new Reichstag represented would be. Thus, "transcendentalism" was the counter-model to a parliamentary system of government, as the civil rights movement had dreamed of in some of its "private" constitutional drafts. In contrast, the implementation of the Meiji constitution should initially be understood in a completely Prussian “transcendent” way. However, the regulation for budget conflicts, which the oligarchs included in the constitution with a view to Bismarck's constitutional conflict (Article 71: In the event of a conflict, the budget of the previous year was valid), already in the 1890s proved to be too weak, so that the oligarchy soon came to compromises with the Parliament was forced and the parties were included in governments a few years later. With the formation of the Rikken Seiyūkai in 1900, some leading Meiji oligarchs eventually joined a party with commoners.
^ The first prime ministers, including Kuroda himself, were proposed by the previous cabinets. It was not until the 1890s that the selection process in the form of this ex-prime minister or oligarch conference became the norm.

personal data
SURNAME	Kuroda, Kiyotaka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	黒田清隆 (Japanese); 黒田了介 (Japanese); Kuroda Ryosuke
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Japanese politician
DATE OF BIRTH	November 9, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH	Satsuma Province
DATE OF DEATH	23rd August 1900

[1] In 1881 Kuroda received permission from the central government, which invested 14 million yen in the construction to a group of entrepreneurs from Osaka, led by Gōdai Tomoatsu ( 五代友厚 ; 1836–1883), with close ties to Satsuma and Chōshū -Han , now worth 30 million yen, on unusually favorable terms. The general criticism about it led to the cancellation, but the political damage could not be repaired anytime soon.

[2] 超然主義 CHOZEN shugi , the term in political discourse of the Meiji Era: Government without / against (bourgeois) political parties that had formed in prefectural and local parliaments and from 1890 in future by the elected House of Representatives in the new Reichstag represented would be. Thus, "transcendentalism" was the counter-model to a parliamentary system of government, as the civil rights movement had dreamed of in some of its "private" constitutional drafts. In contrast, the implementation of the Meiji constitution should initially be understood in a completely Prussian “transcendent” way. However, the regulation for budget conflicts, which the oligarchs included in the constitution with a view to Bismarck's constitutional conflict (Article 71: In the event of a conflict, the budget of the previous year was valid), already in the 1890s proved to be too weak, so that the oligarchy soon came to compromises with the Parliament was forced and the parties were included in governments a few years later. With the formation of the Rikken Seiyūkai in 1900, some leading Meiji oligarchs eventually joined a party with commoners.

[3] The first prime ministers, including Kuroda himself, were proposed by the previous cabinets. It was not until the 1890s that the selection process in the form of this ex-prime minister or oligarch conference became the norm.