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Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia
Itō Hirobumi - Japan's First Prime Minister and Father of the Meiji Constitution
The brilliant and influential statesman, Itō Hirobumi (1841-1909), and the first prime minister of Japan’s modern state, has been poorly understood. This biography attempts to set the record straight about Itō’s thought and vision for Japan’s modernisation based on research in primary sources. It outlines Itō’s life: the son of a poor farmer, he showed exceptional talent as a boy and was sent to study in Europe and the United States. He returned home convinced that Western civilisation was the only viable path for Japan. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Itō became a powerful intellectual and political force behind reforms of Japanese laws and institutions aimed to shape a modern government based on informed leadership and a knowledeable populace. Among his many achievements were the establishment of Japan’s first constitution—the Meiji Constitution of 1889, and the founding in 1900 of a new type of constitutional party, the Rikken Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government), which, reformulated after 1945, became the Liberal Democratic Party that has dominated Japanese politics in the postwar period. Concerning Itō’s role as Japanese Resident-General in Korea from 1905, the author argues that Itō’s aim, not understood by either the Japanese home government or Koreans themselves, was not to colonize Korea. He was determined to modernise Korea and consolidate further constitutional reforms in Japan. This aim was not shared by others, and Itō resigned in 1909. He was assassinated the same year in Manchuria by a Korean nationalist. The Japanese language edition of this book is a bestseller in Japan, and it received the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, one of Japan's most prestigious publishing awards.
266 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
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About the author
Takii Kazuhiro
7 books2 followersTAKII Kazuhiro is a Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies.
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July 1, 2018
This book could not have come early enough.
The image of Ito Hirobumi that the standard graduate and postgraduate classes and teaching corps propagate, is the one of a cunning aristocrat whose lack of principles led Japan to the path of oligarchic and militaristic development, that he orchestrated and later presided upon in his role of "Marquis Ito the Governor-General of the Japanicized Occupied Korea", where his career thus defined was cut short by a "brave nationalist student intellectual".
That, in fact, could not be further from the truth.
Ito certainly was a cunning bureaucrat, who staunchly opposed the governance by a secret "elite" - be it an aristocratic elite, a party - or a professional politicians elite, a military one, or a club of financial and industrial tycoons.
That position was gained by his travels and in person experience of the life in the Western countries as well as the critical but open-minded position he reserved for the teachings he studied there - unlike others (which unfortunately includes my alma mater's founder Shigenobu Okuma ), Itô was much less idealistic concerning the nature of the politics as they stood, but much more idealistic as to the ideal nature of man politics stood to free from the toils of the life and the organisation of life - that is the practicality of implementation of the political system and its power in improving the life of the citizen.
It's no wonder one of his favourite sayings was
"Wanting to learn how the camel lives, a Frenchman went directly to the Zoo, it said. Camels are kept in zoos, but you cannot study their behavior in a zoo, because it's not their natural habitat. What did a German do? He confined himself to his room, to study camels through his books. But the Englishman - he went to Egypt, where he visited the habitat of camels and observed firsthand how they actually live. That is an allegory, but it illustrates a throuroughly practical approach to the advancement of Japan."
Among the far-thinking members of the cabinet in Japan (and also Austria, Russia, France and the United States), he was the only logically and structurally self-consistent partisan of the gradual transformation of Japan and the opening of the country.
"The determination of Itô Hirobumi to prepare the country for the practice of popular government based on the spirit of tolerance was behind Itô's founding in 1900 of the Seiyûkai polotical party, the predecessor of te Liveral Democratic Party which, at the exception of a few years, has been at the helm of Japanese government almost continuosly since 1955."
Starting from the humble beginnings as a secret student-envoy of Satsuma-Shôchû, Itô went on to build trust first among his peers, and then progressively as a member of several govenments, almost never failing to bring his former foes to his own side, a lasting testament to both his talent and his belief in natural goodness of man.
"For Ito in a 'civilized' nation people performed their duties at work while staying away from political engagement, and at the same time they maintaned their interest in political affairs and participated in the government in certain ways. Their own individual interests were linked to the interest of the state and, in that sense, all types of business related to the government. Some people would decide to use their proffessional skills to help the government directly and such were 'representatives' of the people. That was the ideal Itô advocated.
Ito's ideal party would have been an organization where such representatives would gather, deliberate and study the policies together. He envisioned Seiyûkai functioning in this manner.
...
He wanted the party to be a repository of know-how and expertise in policy making, to be used to the benefit of the state and the public.
...
In the end Seiyûkai was not only a political party, but something which could be likened to a modern think-tank"
During his early campaigning years after the end of the local rebellions he showed himself as a skilled orator, reminding the Japanese people that they, as a members of the civilized society, should show themselves worthy of that role by their magnanimous behavior, notably towards the foreign engineers and investors coming to Japan in the wake of the Meiji restoration.
That alone allowed for a rapid expansion of the native productivity and the smooth rise in the native industry versus the pure-import one, which, for example plagued both the empires of China and Korea and ultimately led to the demise of both.
In fact this is what he writes on the desires of the Chinese emperor to reform China with drastic measures such as banning the chinese ideograms themselves, banning traditional clothing and esthetic custom - the emperor who was to be overthrown by the empress Cixi and whose followers and many related intellectuals were executed, thus paving the way for Communist, nationalist and magical extremism, which kept the chinese state in turmoil for 39 years and in limbo for another 20.
"When it comes to national interest you should be most prudent and careful. Never act rashly. Place experienced experts in command to formulate reform policies, and place young spirited officials below to help them. Let them do their jobs and success will be yours. Should you try to ignore this point and bring about the drastic reforms quickly, your efforts will only create confusion and disturbance"
As a proponent of gradualism, his position applied even for his own past resoltion, like for example a comparison of his attitude to the government and taxation in the year of adoption of the Japanese Constitution - 1889 to 10 years later - 1899, when he enjoyed immense power and respect gained from the tangible improvement of life under the laws adopted in the wake of constitution itself.
"As things stand, our dream of constitutional government might end up being just that - only a dream; cabinet ministers say that they'll stand firm and stick it out no matter what happens; those bluffers have no intention whatsoever of preparing the people to become a civilized nation. They seem completely unaware of the fact that everhthing in the universe is in the perpetual motion, always changing in a certain order. Just as a seed needs to be tended and cultivatdd to grow into a healthy flower or tree, it takes many years to cultivate and nurture people who have long known only despotic rule so that they can thrive as participants in constitutional government"
After his rise to power as an elected government bureaucrat, he had this to say about the increased taxation in 1899 as compared to 1889
"... the condition of the state today has changed vastly from the days when the Meiji consitution was promulgated in 1889. The tax burden of the people at the time ... was hardly 80 million yen. It is double that today, and the people now have that much more political power and are participating that much more in government. What about their duties to the state? Some might say that now, since people are wealthier, it is only natural that their financial contribution should expand. But people also fulfull their duties by sending out representatives who help run the country. They differ greatly from people living undrr tyranny. This alone is enough to assert that these years of experiment have been successful."
However, as Japan gained political, economic and soon - military power, particularly after the defeat of the Russian army and fleet at the Japanese hands, the public spirit reached new hights of nationalism. That was an uneasy time for a gradualist, who could be even called a pacifist, as Itô was, as the newly-minted command and executive officers demanded more power and more influence in the state apparatus by subverting the bureaucrat education recruitment through the mandatory and SECRET army quotas.
Itô was staunchly opposed to mindless taxation and secret directives, and with the notoriety gained with the Japanese industrialists investing in Korea and China in the wake of the Russian withdrawal, he negotiated and passed a law which curbed the influence of the army on the Budget and recruitment matters, a fact which remained virtually unknown until this 10+ years biographical work was published.
"Article 7 of the Cabinet Organisation Order refers to some military secrets apart from supreme-command related affairs, but in Anything which relates to the military administrative affairs, nothing must be kept secret from the ministers of state.Therefore the right of the military direct appeal to the Emperor has to be restricted and the term "military secrets" must be deleted"
By the end of his careers Itô fell victim (piece by piece - in the government, and in life -first losing his leg, then his life) to the powers of irrational in the human society - the Japanese imperialists who pushed trhough the annexation of Korea, then the Korean nationalists agitated by the former Korean emperor Gojong, to whom Itô was a reform advisof for more than 10 years, preceding the protectorate and the occupation of Korea - the idea which wasn't born in Itô's head or Itô's party, that same Emperor Gojong, who declared himself to be the closest friend of Itô and by the unfortunate pen of whom we know Itô the progressive gradualist bureucrat as "Marquis Itô the Governor General of the barbarian island", and to his allied confucianist scholars "who have a glib tongue but can't make their hands or feet work".
Ultimately Itô was a man "ahead of his time" who rightfully thought that each country can have a democratic government if a needed structure was created natively, and that each culture was valuable, however he was, as many modern optimistic people, underestimating the darker spirit of the in-group identity powers - powers that are threatenting our society almost 130 years after the first Japanese Constitution was adopted and 108 years after the Itô lost his life to a mindless extremist puppet of the militarist fractions of both the Japanese and the Korean courts.
Every aspiring statesman should read this book.
The image of Ito Hirobumi that the standard graduate and postgraduate classes and teaching corps propagate, is the one of a cunning aristocrat whose lack of principles led Japan to the path of oligarchic and militaristic development, that he orchestrated and later presided upon in his role of "Marquis Ito the Governor-General of the Japanicized Occupied Korea", where his career thus defined was cut short by a "brave nationalist student intellectual".
That, in fact, could not be further from the truth.
Ito certainly was a cunning bureaucrat, who staunchly opposed the governance by a secret "elite" - be it an aristocratic elite, a party - or a professional politicians elite, a military one, or a club of financial and industrial tycoons.
That position was gained by his travels and in person experience of the life in the Western countries as well as the critical but open-minded position he reserved for the teachings he studied there - unlike others (which unfortunately includes my alma mater's founder Shigenobu Okuma ), Itô was much less idealistic concerning the nature of the politics as they stood, but much more idealistic as to the ideal nature of man politics stood to free from the toils of the life and the organisation of life - that is the practicality of implementation of the political system and its power in improving the life of the citizen.
It's no wonder one of his favourite sayings was
"Wanting to learn how the camel lives, a Frenchman went directly to the Zoo, it said. Camels are kept in zoos, but you cannot study their behavior in a zoo, because it's not their natural habitat. What did a German do? He confined himself to his room, to study camels through his books. But the Englishman - he went to Egypt, where he visited the habitat of camels and observed firsthand how they actually live. That is an allegory, but it illustrates a throuroughly practical approach to the advancement of Japan."
Among the far-thinking members of the cabinet in Japan (and also Austria, Russia, France and the United States), he was the only logically and structurally self-consistent partisan of the gradual transformation of Japan and the opening of the country.
"The determination of Itô Hirobumi to prepare the country for the practice of popular government based on the spirit of tolerance was behind Itô's founding in 1900 of the Seiyûkai polotical party, the predecessor of te Liveral Democratic Party which, at the exception of a few years, has been at the helm of Japanese government almost continuosly since 1955."
Starting from the humble beginnings as a secret student-envoy of Satsuma-Shôchû, Itô went on to build trust first among his peers, and then progressively as a member of several govenments, almost never failing to bring his former foes to his own side, a lasting testament to both his talent and his belief in natural goodness of man.
"For Ito in a 'civilized' nation people performed their duties at work while staying away from political engagement, and at the same time they maintaned their interest in political affairs and participated in the government in certain ways. Their own individual interests were linked to the interest of the state and, in that sense, all types of business related to the government. Some people would decide to use their proffessional skills to help the government directly and such were 'representatives' of the people. That was the ideal Itô advocated.
Ito's ideal party would have been an organization where such representatives would gather, deliberate and study the policies together. He envisioned Seiyûkai functioning in this manner.
...
He wanted the party to be a repository of know-how and expertise in policy making, to be used to the benefit of the state and the public.
...
In the end Seiyûkai was not only a political party, but something which could be likened to a modern think-tank"
During his early campaigning years after the end of the local rebellions he showed himself as a skilled orator, reminding the Japanese people that they, as a members of the civilized society, should show themselves worthy of that role by their magnanimous behavior, notably towards the foreign engineers and investors coming to Japan in the wake of the Meiji restoration.
That alone allowed for a rapid expansion of the native productivity and the smooth rise in the native industry versus the pure-import one, which, for example plagued both the empires of China and Korea and ultimately led to the demise of both.
In fact this is what he writes on the desires of the Chinese emperor to reform China with drastic measures such as banning the chinese ideograms themselves, banning traditional clothing and esthetic custom - the emperor who was to be overthrown by the empress Cixi and whose followers and many related intellectuals were executed, thus paving the way for Communist, nationalist and magical extremism, which kept the chinese state in turmoil for 39 years and in limbo for another 20.
"When it comes to national interest you should be most prudent and careful. Never act rashly. Place experienced experts in command to formulate reform policies, and place young spirited officials below to help them. Let them do their jobs and success will be yours. Should you try to ignore this point and bring about the drastic reforms quickly, your efforts will only create confusion and disturbance"
As a proponent of gradualism, his position applied even for his own past resoltion, like for example a comparison of his attitude to the government and taxation in the year of adoption of the Japanese Constitution - 1889 to 10 years later - 1899, when he enjoyed immense power and respect gained from the tangible improvement of life under the laws adopted in the wake of constitution itself.
"As things stand, our dream of constitutional government might end up being just that - only a dream; cabinet ministers say that they'll stand firm and stick it out no matter what happens; those bluffers have no intention whatsoever of preparing the people to become a civilized nation. They seem completely unaware of the fact that everhthing in the universe is in the perpetual motion, always changing in a certain order. Just as a seed needs to be tended and cultivatdd to grow into a healthy flower or tree, it takes many years to cultivate and nurture people who have long known only despotic rule so that they can thrive as participants in constitutional government"
After his rise to power as an elected government bureaucrat, he had this to say about the increased taxation in 1899 as compared to 1889
"... the condition of the state today has changed vastly from the days when the Meiji consitution was promulgated in 1889. The tax burden of the people at the time ... was hardly 80 million yen. It is double that today, and the people now have that much more political power and are participating that much more in government. What about their duties to the state? Some might say that now, since people are wealthier, it is only natural that their financial contribution should expand. But people also fulfull their duties by sending out representatives who help run the country. They differ greatly from people living undrr tyranny. This alone is enough to assert that these years of experiment have been successful."
However, as Japan gained political, economic and soon - military power, particularly after the defeat of the Russian army and fleet at the Japanese hands, the public spirit reached new hights of nationalism. That was an uneasy time for a gradualist, who could be even called a pacifist, as Itô was, as the newly-minted command and executive officers demanded more power and more influence in the state apparatus by subverting the bureaucrat education recruitment through the mandatory and SECRET army quotas.
Itô was staunchly opposed to mindless taxation and secret directives, and with the notoriety gained with the Japanese industrialists investing in Korea and China in the wake of the Russian withdrawal, he negotiated and passed a law which curbed the influence of the army on the Budget and recruitment matters, a fact which remained virtually unknown until this 10+ years biographical work was published.
"Article 7 of the Cabinet Organisation Order refers to some military secrets apart from supreme-command related affairs, but in Anything which relates to the military administrative affairs, nothing must be kept secret from the ministers of state.Therefore the right of the military direct appeal to the Emperor has to be restricted and the term "military secrets" must be deleted"
By the end of his careers Itô fell victim (piece by piece - in the government, and in life -first losing his leg, then his life) to the powers of irrational in the human society - the Japanese imperialists who pushed trhough the annexation of Korea, then the Korean nationalists agitated by the former Korean emperor Gojong, to whom Itô was a reform advisof for more than 10 years, preceding the protectorate and the occupation of Korea - the idea which wasn't born in Itô's head or Itô's party, that same Emperor Gojong, who declared himself to be the closest friend of Itô and by the unfortunate pen of whom we know Itô the progressive gradualist bureucrat as "Marquis Itô the Governor General of the barbarian island", and to his allied confucianist scholars "who have a glib tongue but can't make their hands or feet work".
Ultimately Itô was a man "ahead of his time" who rightfully thought that each country can have a democratic government if a needed structure was created natively, and that each culture was valuable, however he was, as many modern optimistic people, underestimating the darker spirit of the in-group identity powers - powers that are threatenting our society almost 130 years after the first Japanese Constitution was adopted and 108 years after the Itô lost his life to a mindless extremist puppet of the militarist fractions of both the Japanese and the Korean courts.
Every aspiring statesman should read this book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review