Nakajima Nobuyuki

Nakajima Nobuyuki

Nakajima Nobuyuki ( Japanese 中 島 信 行 ; born October 5, 1846 in Kōchi ( Tosa Province ); died March 26, 1899 in Ōiso (Kanagawa) ) was a Japanese politician of the early Meiji period .

Live and act

Nakajima Nobuyuki was born the son of a Gōshi (郷 士) of the Tosa clan, that is, the son of a low samurai . As a teenager he joined the "Tosa Kinnōtō" "(土 佐 勤王 党)" of Takeichi Hampei (武 市 半 平 太; 1829-1865), a group of extreme advocates for the restoration of imperial power. He left the Tosa clan and joined Sakamoto Ryōma .

After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Nakajima began working for the new government. He met with Japanese who had become Christian like Niijima Jō and became a Christian himself. In 1874 he became governor of Kanagawa Prefecture and then a member of the council of elders, the Genrō-in (元老院). His sympathy for the "movement for democracy" (自由民 権 運動, Jiyū minken undō) made him break away from government activities and in 1881 to join the party “Jiyū-tō” (自由 党). In the following year he changed parties and became president of the "Rikken Seitō" (立憲 政党).

In 1887 Nakajima was prohibited from political activities under the "Law for the Maintenance of Public Peace" (保安 条例, Hoan jōrei). Nevertheless, he was elected to the lower house in the first Reichstag election in 1890 , now as a member of the "Rikken Jiyūtō" (立憲 自由 党). He became the first speaker of the lower house. In 1892 he left the party, became ambassador to Italy that same year and two years later received a seat in the House of Lords.

Nakajima died after illness in Oiso . His second wife, Kishida Toshiko , was an early advocate of the women's rights movement.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Nakajima Nobuyuki. In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1038.

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