Yamagata Aritomo

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Yamagata Aritomo
Yamagata Aritomo

Yamagata Aritomo ( Japanese 山 縣 有 朋 , modern 山 県 有 朋 ; * June 14, 1838 ( traditional : Tempō 9 / int. 4/22) in Hagi ; † February 1, 1922 in Odawara ) was a Japanese military leader and politician . He was multiple army and prime ministers of Japan , including the first to rule under the restrictions of the Meiji constitution and to have the budget and laws approved by a partially elected parliament . As a general , in 1877 he put down the Satsuma rebellion led by Saigō Takamori . Like no other personality from the Meiji period, he was responsible for making Japan an imperialist great power , and is therefore considered a national hero . Regardless of that, he was also a very talented gardener, whose facilities are well-known masterpieces of Japanese gardening art .

Life

Yamagata was born into a poor samurai family who lived in Hagi, the capital of the Han (fiefdom) Chōshū . He went to the Shōkasonjuku , a private school led by Yoshida Shōin , and studied Chinese ways of thinking. Yoshida Shōin, one of the leading intellectuals of the Sonnō jōi movement , considered revolts against incompetent rulers to be legitimate and criticized the shogunate's weaknesses against Western nations. Unsurprisingly , Yamagata soon became a Shishi , a follower of the restoration of the power of the Tennō . In 1863 he became the commander of the Kiheitai (German: special troop). It was a force reorganized by Takasugi Shinsaku , into which non-noble Japanese from the class of citizens and traders were accepted for the first time. The unit led by Yamagata first proved itself in the defense of a punitive expedition of Bakufu against the fiefs of Chōshū and Satsuma in 1866. During the Boshin War he was appointed staff officer.

Ōmura Masujirō , the first war minister in the cabinet of the Meiji government, died in late 1869 as a result of an attack. Yamagata took over the office of his superior who, like himself, came from Chōshū. He traveled to Europe on behalf of the Japanese government together with Saigō Tsugumichi to study the military system of European armed forces. After his return to Japan, he began to reform the Imperial Japanese Army in 1870 and redesign it based on the model of the Prussian Army . As a result, the Japanese armed forces evolved into a modern army.

In June 1873 and from August 1874 to December 1878 he was Minister of the Army and continued the development of the Japanese armed forces. In December 1878 he founded the General Staff Office , of which he became the first chairman and which was to become the mainstay of his political power. He induced the Emperor Mutsuhito (posthumously Emperor Meiji ) to write his book The Imperial Words for the Armed Forces . This document formed the basis of the oath that Japanese soldiers swore until 1945. In 1877 he put down the last uprising against the incumbent government under the leadership of the well-known samurai Saigō Takamori . In February 1882 he became the chairman of the Sanjiin (Legislative Council).

In December 1883 he was appointed Lord Chancellor ( Naimu-kyō ), which was the highest office in the Japanese administration before the introduction of a European cabinet system in December 1885. This office then became that of Minister of the Interior (Naimu Daijin), which he held until May 1890. In these functions he suppressed the movement of the free democrats, although he wanted the people to have a say in politics. In addition, he ordered the formation of a new nationwide administrative system, with the introduction of urban districts ( shi ) and municipalities belonging to (rural) districts ( machi and mura ) in 1888, as well as the reorganization of rural districts ( gun ) and prefectures ( fu and ken ) in 1890. Until This administrative division still exists in the districts today.

From July 1886 to June 1887 he was also Minister for Agriculture and Trade .

View into the garden of Yamagata's "country house" in the middle of Kyoto. Many of his meetings took place there.

After the introduction of the Meiji Constitution in 1889, he was appointed Prime Minister of Japan twice. The first term of office lasted from December 24, 1889 to May 6, 1891. Thereafter, he was Minister of Justice from August 1892 to March 1893, and in March 1893 was briefly chairman of the Secret Council .

With the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War , he became commander of the 1st Army in August and Kangun (General Inspector of the Army) in December 1894 , which he remained until January 1898. Shortly before the end of the war, he was again briefly Minister of the Army between March and April 1895. On January 20, 1898 he received the honorary title of General Field Marshal ( Gensui ) .

His second term as Prime Minister began in 1898 and ended in 1900. In 1901 he was honored with the title of Genrō (Member of the Council of Senior Statesmen), which was only given to highly deserving politicians. In addition, he became a member of the Privy Council in July 1903 . From June 1904 to December 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War he headed the General Staff. He then became the chairman of the Secret Council. With the exception of June to November 1906, when he was briefly replaced by Itō Hirobumi , he held this post until his death.

In September 1907 he was appointed Kōshaku (prince).

In his late political career, he only shared power with Itō Hirobumi . In contrast to this, he never liked political parties. After Itō Hirobumi's death in 1909, he became the most influential politician in Japan.

Movies

  • The uprising of the samurai Saigō Takamori and his suppression in 1877 were the historical basis of the film The Last Samurai (2003).
  • In the Japanese manga Rurouni Kenshin , which also has the beginning of the Meiji Restoration as a plot period , Yamagata Aritomo plays a role.

Web links

Commons : Yamagata Aritomo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Die kleine Enzyklopädie , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, Volume 2, page 946
  2. a b c d e f g h i j 山 県 有 朋 関係 文書 (MF : 個人 蔵) . National Parliamentary Library , archived from the original on June 12, 2008 ; Retrieved October 3, 2010 (Japanese).