Terashima Munenori

Terashima Munenori

Terashima Munenori ( Japanese 寺 島 宗 則 ; born June 21, 1832 in Satsuma Province (now around Kagoshima Prefecture ); died June 6, 1893 ) was a Japanese diplomat .

life and work

Early years

Terashima Munenori was born the second son of Nagano Shigemune, a lowly samurai (郷 士, Goshi). At the age of five he was adopted by his uncle Matsuki and was given the name Matsuki Kōan (松木 弘 安). He went to Edo in 1845 and studied Dutch with the doctors Itō Genpaku (伊 東 玄 朴; 180–11871) and Kawamoto Yukitami (川 本 幸 民; 1810–1871). From 1855 onwards he attended the Dutch training center operated by Fukuzawa Yukichi in the residence of Nakatsu-han . In 1856 he became a teacher at the Bansho Shirabesho and returned home in 1856 to become a doctor of the Satsuma daimyo Shimazu Nariakira . Shimazu died two years later, and Terashima returned to Edo to teach at Bansho Shirabesho again. While teaching Dutch there, he began learning English in 1857.

In 1861, Terashima was selected by Mitsukuri Shūhei (箕 作 秋 坪; 1826–1886) and Fukuzawa Yukichi to participate as an interpreter and doctor of the 1st European Shogunate Mission, the Takenouchi Mission . During the trip, he realized that Dutch was not particularly important in Europe and turned increasingly to English. During the bombing of Kagoshima by British warships in 1863, triggered by the Namamugi incident , he was arrested by British troops commanding the steamship Aotaka-maru (青 鷹 丸). In 1865 he was a member of the European tour organized by Satsuma-han (薩摩 藩 遣 英 使節 団, Satsuma-han ken-Ei shisetsudan), on which France, Prussia, the Netherlands and Belgium were visited. At least since that time he called himself Terashima.

After the Meiji Restoration

After the Meiji Restoration, Terashima entered the diplomatic service and used his experience from the European missions. So he became advisor for foreign affairs (参与 外国 事務 掛, San'yo gaikokumu-kake), governor of Kanagawa Prefecture (神奈川 県 知事, Kanagawa-ken chiji), 1869 Deputy Foreign Minister (外務 大 輔, Geimu taifu).

When Foreign Minister Soejima Taneomi resigned on the Korean question in 1873 , he succeeded him. In this function he negotiated the Treaty of St. Petersburg with Russia in 1875 and developed the Yoshida Evats Agreement in 1878, in which the USA recognized Japan's collective bargaining autonomy.

Terashima was also responsible for the negotiations on the “Maria Luz Incident”, which concerned the rights of poorly supplied Chinese on the Peruvian ship that called at a port in Japan.

Terashima was later Minister of Culture, envoy to the USA, and vice-president of Sūmitsu-in .

Remarks

1. ↑ However, this treaty never came into force because of Great Britain's resistance.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Terashima Munenori . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1554.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Terashima is the family name, Munenori the first name.