Ito Hirobumi

By Yasuda Minori

Ito Hirobumi

In Japan, the first Prime Minister was a man who was born as a low class samurai, and the man is Ito Hirobumi. I presented about him in the class before, but I’m still interested in him. The reason why I think he is interesting is because he lived from Edo period to Meiji period. The lifestyle had changed a lot comparing both eras, but he adapted to it, and also he became one of the people who changed Japan at that time. Therefore I’d love to focus on what he did in his life.

Ito Hirobumi was born in 1841 and named Risuke at first. His family was very poor, and his father was a common foot soldier, so his father was adopted to help their family budget. Since they were adopted by Mr. Ito, who was a member of Choshu domain, the family changed their last name from Hayashi to Ito. At the same time, Risuke also changed his name to Hirobumi.

When he was 16 years old, after the arrival of Perry, who tried to push Japan open the country, Hirobumi began to work as a member of Uraga security because Japan’s feudal government ordered Choshu domain to do so, and his boss was Kurihara Ryozo. He introduced Yoshida Shoin’s cram school to Hirobumi, and he worked for the principle of advocating reverence for the Emperor and the expulsion of foreigners with Katsura Kogoro and Takasugi Shinsaku. Hirobumi was influenced by Shoin a lot, but after his trip to England in 1863, he changed his thought to be in favour of opening the country and overthrowing the government.

Ito Hirobumi was thought to be the great person in Japanese history and you may think in the same way. However, he is also known as an emboldened young man joined to the movement of overthrowing a government. One of the most well-known cases he was involved in was attacking with fire the England legation being built in Shinagawa in 1863. In those days, he was still a teenager of low birth. In addition to this, Mr. Ito is said to have assassinated a waka poet, Kato Kojiro, and the fourth son of a Japanese classical scholar, Hanawa Hokiichi.

As seen above, it seems that Ito Hirobumi would be called a terrorist if he was alive now because his movement was too revolutionary, but he certainly did the very important job for Japan. And one of the biggest jobs is making Meiji Constitution. Ito left Japan in March 14, 1882 to search the constitutions in foreign countries. Additionally, he searched about imperial courts, parliaments, the Cabinets, laws, and local government systems. His studied them in Germany, Austria, Britain, and Belgium, and his visit to Europe lasted for a year and 2 months.

His actions should be seen as dangerous and strange. He was assassinated in Korea because he was the leader of Japan which had occupied and invaded Korea. These days, I heard about the news that a memorial hall was being built for the man who killed Ito, An Jung-geun. In Korea, he is thought to be a hero, but in Japan, he was just a killer. So Japanese governors said that building the memorial hall made them angry because An Jung-geun was a criminal. Responding to these comments, Korean governor got angry. However, for me, neither side should care about such actions or comments. That’s because the hero of a battle between two groups must be a criminal or an enemy for the other group, a loser. The most important thing here is how a movement a person did has influenced and changed one country. Thinking of that helps people not to be angry and to look back on a part of their history.


References

(2010). そのとき伊藤博文は、どうしたか. Retrieved January 14, 2014, from J-Net21: http://j-net21.smrj.go.jp/watch/sanpo/entry/20100712.html

(2010). 伊藤博文. Retrieved January 14, 2014, from 日本歴史巡り: http://www.jphistoryrd.com/mei/ito.html

(2013). 日韓、今度は安重根と伊藤博文で波紋？. Retrieved January 14, 2014, from HUFF POST WORLD －国際－: http://www.huffingtonpost.jp/the-new-classic/post_6205_b_4306017.html

立憲政治を確立した初代首相　伊藤博文. Retrieved January 14, 2014, from 小・中学生のための学習教材の部屋　知識の泉 from: http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~gakusyuu/rekisizinbutu/itouhirobumi.htm

Yoshida Shoin

By Yoshiki Takanashi

Yoshida Shoin

Do you know the person who tried to sneak into the Perry’s Black Ship, the first ship which came to open Japan to the world? It is Yoshida Shoin who tried to change Japan in the Edo and Meiji era. He is known as a samurai, thinker, educator and community scholar. Generally he is said to be the spiritual leader of the Meiji Restoration. The information from textbook in school is not at all about him. His essence is far away from people we see in the textbook. If I explain his character in one word, crazy is only word which matches him. He did crazy things which usually people do not. I will describe him how great and crazy he was in the view of his background, personality and what we can learn from him.

He was born in Hagi in the Choshu region of Japan as Sugi Yurinosuke. He studied at Shokasonjuku, which is a cram school that his uncle opened. In 1982, he planned to travel to the north-east (Tohoku region) with his friends and to keep the promise of departure, he left the Choshu clan without getting any permission from them. After arriving at Edo, he was accused of a crime and lost his rank of samurai and relations between him and his family. In 1853, when Perry came to Uraga, his mind was heading to go abroad. After that, Russian warship came and he and his friend tried to sneak into the ship but they could not succeed because the warship left earlier than the schedule because of the war. They did the same thing to Perry’s Black Ship but were told to go back because if Perry brought them to U.S it would have been illegal. Their baggage were on the boat which they used to sneak into the Black Ship and the boat was already floated somewhere so they thought they would be caught easily. Therefore, they surrendered not to humiliate themselves. They were sent to prison but a few years later, Shoin was released from the prison and opened Shoukason-juku, the same name as his old school, and educated many talented people.

As I mentioned in the beginning of essay, he was a crazy person. From his totally unexpected action, we can read some of his character. By the way, he was a believer of Youmeigaku which is consciousness that we should not just obey the power but act with responsibility. I will explain this Youmeigaku more specifically and simply by using their precept. First, even if an action is illegal, it is just if you thought it is just. Second, if you did not act what you studied, it means learning is for nothing. Third, every human has moral fiber inborn so as long as you follow it, your action is just. These are his consciousness and also he left a quote which shows his personality. The best quote showing his character is, “if you set an aim, you have to start from the day you set it” (Yoshida Shoin). From his actions such as sneaking into warship and leaving Choshu clan without permission, he completely put into practice this quote. From these elements, we can say he is direct and active.

What we should learn from him is his ability to take action and accomplish a purpose. However, the teller has often spruced up history. Some people say he is dangerous and I think this is true. In fact, he tried to assassinate some people who he thought were wrong. There is doubt about whether he tried to assassinate Perry. His justice is not justice for all people which means he was just evil for the Bakufu government. Whether he is right or not, his way of living is something we can respect because he did it for the country not for himself.

In conclusion, I wrote some criticism of him but he receives recognition from many people and his way of life is admirable. For instance, his action surprised Perry but he felt admiration for Shoin. There is less necessity now for people like him because of change of age but thanks to people who changed or tried to change Japan, what we have today is result of their effort and great success.


References

Hiruta, R. Yoshida Shoin sonohito wo miru (Look at Yoshida Shoin). Retrieved on 17/07/2013 from http://homepage2.nifty.com/kumando/mj/mj011005.html

Quotes of Yoshida Shoin. (9/10/2011). Retrieved on 17/07/2013 from http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2131813940838887701

Yoshida Shoin (10/7/2013). Retrieved on 15/07/2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshida_Sh%C5%8Din

Yosshi (8/8/2012). Yoshida Shoin ha tadano terorisuto ni suginai (Yoshida Shoin was a just a terrorist). Retrieved on 17/07/2013 from http://blog.nihon-syakai.net/blog/2012/08/002325.html

Kaientai (海援隊)

By Takahiro Aoyagi

During the Edo period (1603-1868), there was no one who ever imagined that Satsuma Domain and Choshu Domain would join hands in order to overthrow the Tokugawa Government. It is well known that these two domains had been in an unfavorable relationship for long time. However, when it came to the tense political situation, they finally compromised and formed Satcho Alliance against people’s view in 1866. It is not extraordinary to say that this was the moment the overthrow of the government truly started. Nevertheless, it would have been impossible to reach this state if Kaientai had not helped them get together in a lot of ways.

Kaientai was an organization led by Ryoma Sakamoto, who was a low class samurai from Tosa Domain, which mainly spent itself in commercial activity. In Japanese, the name of this organization means “the company which supports Japan over the ocean.” and it is not hard to imagine from its meaning that they already had foresight of importance of overseas despite the period of isolation policy in Japan. Some studies suggest that this was the first stock company in Japan, but it is still argued whether it is true or not. Anyway, there was no such thing in this era, thus, this foundation of a company was very new to people and this was when Ryoma Sakamoto gradually became known by entire country. Ryoma Sakamoto initially predicted the necessity of knowledge and technology from overseas so the company mainly traded firearms, especially a lot of guns, with foreign companies. Besides, it was looking for some naval ship to possess, which only the government had at that age, in order to spread their range of work. No one believed they could get it because naval ship was like an unbelievable item of foreign technology that most ordinary people had never seen, but finally they fulfilled their dream and got some old ships by their profit made through trade. In the end, they literally became the company which could support Japan over the ocean.

Kaientai was an influential political organization as well as one of the first stock companies of Japan. Ryoma Sakamoto was a loyal supporter of the Emperor who used to belong to Tosa Domain, however, he had already left his domain behind when he started this company. That is why he was not under the control of his domain and started looking for a way to compromise between Satsuma and Choshu. Since he was independent, the organization was mainly constructed by non-party people who had left their domain called “Roshi (浪士)”, and a lot of them spent their life working towards the Satcho Alliance. Needless to say, there were many troubles and difficulties during this process. After many efforts by each domain and Kaientai, the Satcho Alliance was concluded through Takamori Saigo from Satsuma, Takayoshi Kido from Choshu and Ryoma Sakamoto from Kaientai at Kyoto in 1866.

After the conclusion of Satcho Alliance, the company still kept supporting the alliance by providing firearms they got from trade for upcoming battle against the government. They not only provided the arms, but also fought against the government with their naval ship in second conquest of Choshu. As a result, Choshu beat the government in the end and the restoration of government to the crown called “Taiseihokan (大政奉還)” occurred in 1867. In this year, one of the biggest goals Kaientai set out was ultimately fulfilled, but meanwhile a shocking tragedy happened. Ryoma Sakamoto, the leader of the company, was killed on November 15th in 1887. This news shook up whole organization and it was broken up within a year. After breaking up, Yataro Iwasaki, who was in charge of accounting of the company, reconstructed the organization. It is widely known that he finally founded one of biggest company in Japan called “Mitsubishi”, based on Kaientai.

Today, Japanese people might learn about Satsuma, Choshu or overthrow of the government in history class, however, there is no specific explanation about Kaientai or Ryoma Sakamoto who devoted their life to the Meiji Restoration. It is a shame they hardly catch light behind a textbook in spite of their contribution. This is a small part of the problem, therefore, I suggest way of education in history class change from memorizing style to discussion style so that people can develop their thinking skills with “how” or “why” than “when” or “where”. We have to keep in mind that our life today is based on many victims and commitments in the past. Kaientai was one of them which supported the Satcho Alliance until overthrow of the government by mainly providing them with firearms. At the same time, they instilled a concept of company in Japan as one of the first commercial organizations. Over 100 years from the Edo period, their will and foundation are still living in Japan today.


References

Bakumatsuishin Dictionary. (2006, December 23). Retrieved July 24, 2013, from http://jpco.sakura.ne.jp/shishitati1/shishitati.htm

Yoshida Shoin

By Masato Takahashi

Yoshida Shoin

There were many people in Japan who were fascinated by foreign countries, and Yoshida Shoin was one of them. He was known as a samurai of Choshu domain, educator of Ito Hirobumi (the first prime minister of Japan and the philosophical leader of Japan in the Meiji restoration), plus as the one of the people who tried to change Japan. Compared to other people, he was quite unique and had only his way to think differently from ordinary people, which made him remarkable. Many people might wonder whether Yoshida Shoin was great or just crazy, thus in this paper, his story will be introduced in terms of his early life with a reason why he began to be interested in foreign countries, characteristic and actions.

Yoshida Shoin was born on September 20th, 1830 as second son of a modest-ranking samurai family in Choshu region. When he was 11 years old, his talent of military studies was improved in Shokason-zyuku cram school, and he was admired by Takachiika Mouri who was a leader of Choshu Domain at that time. However after First Anglo-Chinese war in 1850, he was overwhelmed by the strength of western countries and felt strongly that Japan needed to learn the military studies of western countries. For this, he started to be fascinated by western countries.

Yoshida Shoin was a quite extraordinary-thinking man because he was never afraid of any penalty and neither cared about it in order to achieve his purpose. Here are some examples of his story. In 1852, he and his friend, Teizou Miyabe, a samurai of Kumamoto domain planned to travel Tohoku area in the north east of Japan, but on this travel Shoin quit being a samurai of Choshu domain and abandoned his status not to be late for the travel day, and at last, after this travel which is called ‘Tohoku yu-gaku’, he was penalized. Moreover, in 1854 when Matthew Calbraith Perry came to Japan in second time in order to make a treaty with Japan, Yoshida tried to get in Perry’s ship to ask for passage overseas in secret, but his wish was denied and he was arrested. As these things show, he was quite crazy and did not think of the result after his action.

Yoshida Shoin tried to do many things which were quite crazy, for example as mentioned in the previous paragraph, his trip to Tohoku area or making contact with Matthew Perry. In addition to these actions, there were many other actions, for instance in 1853 he planned but failed to get in a Russian war ship of Jevfimij Vasil'jevich Putjatin to study abroad, because he had been very impressed with western countries’ power when Matthew Perry came to Japan for the first time. Moreover, in 1858, after USA and Japan made ‘Treaty of Amity and Commerce’ without permission from an emperor, he got furious, thought that the biggest obstacle of Japan was its own government and decided to beat Japanese government. However he was arrested again and ended up being executed when he was 30 years old.

In conclusion, seemingly Yoshida Shoin was just crazy and there might not be any specific purpose to do such crazy actions as introduced before, however it is also true that he cared about Japan more than anything and truly loved it. As an educator, he raised Ito Hirobumi and Takasugi Shinsaku who left great feats in Japan, as a revolutionary he dedicated himself to studying western countries and conducted crazy deeds and never was afraid of being punished to improve Japan. In history, there were many people who tried to make changes for their country by knowledge from western countries, and Yoshida Shoin was just one of them. When he died, he left this remark “吾れ今　国の為に死す　死して　君臣に背かず　悠々たり　天地の事　鑑照　明神にあり” which means “I’ll die for my country. Even after I die, I appreciate everything to my lord and my parents, plus I never betray myself and what I’ve done. The world is immortal and broad. Oh, God, please prove that what I’ve done was right” (Yoshida Shoin.com). He always did his best to bring changes to Japan because of his love for Japan which might be little unique, therefore he was truly one of great patriots of Japan.


Reference

吉田　松陰.com (Yoshida Shoin. com). Retrieved from http://www.yoshida-shoin.com/

Shintaro’s all about Satcho Alliance

By Kotaro Miura

Shintaro Nakaoka

Shintaro Nakaoka (1838, May 6-1867, December 12)

I strongly remember Shintaro Nakaoka as a hero despite my poor knowledge of Japanese history. He is famous as the person who made a connection between Satsuma domain and Choshu domain [editor's note: these two domains were instrumental in overthrowing the feudal government (bakufu) and bringing about the Meiji Restoration of 1868]. This big event is called “Satcho Alliance” and it has greatly affected Japanese history. I used to think a hero of Satcho Alliance is only Ryoma Sakamoto but this person also made an effort as well as Sakamoto did. The Satcho Alliance strongly connected to the “Meiji Restoration”.

For this report I’m going to write about Nakaoka and how he brought about Satcho Alliance.


History & Personality

Nakaoka was born in Tosa domain as a son of village headman in 1838. He especially learned Chinese classics and fencing in his childhood. His father intended to make Shintaro become a village headman so that Shintaro could get high education. In 1858 his father was sick and Shintaro took over the family job. He was always considering how villagers could live comfortably. The place where he lived and was in charge of was not good for agriculture. It was difficult to grow farm produce, thus villager were suffering from hunger. He sold his own place to make money and he bought some potatoes for villager. I think this episode shows exactly who he is. He has never forgotten his villagers and he always thought of quality of their lives. 


As a public spirited person and Zuizan Takechi

When Nakaoka was 23 years old he decided to join the party that was founded by Zuizan Takechi, who was Nakaoka’s teacher of fencing and keen to change Japan as soon as possible. Joining Takechi’s party was beginning of Nakaoka’s history of public-spiritedness. The party’s name was “Tosa-Kinnoutou”. At that time the “Sonno-Jyoui” movement was gradually becoming famous in Japan, especially in Choshu domain. “Sonno-Jyoui” means “Revere the Emperor and expel the barbarians”. Zuizan had same opinion with that. In Tosa-Kinnoutou there were over 200 people, including Ryouma Sakamoto. Zuizan plotted an assassination to change the policy of Tosa domain and it succeeded. He killed a high-ranking person in the Tosa domain.

Satcho-Alliance

Basically Satsuma and Choshu domains had power in Japanese politics, but their opinions were different. Satsuma stood by government side that was about to open country and have relationships with other countries. On the other hand, Choshu wanted to make the government step down. They seemed like fire and oil and that's why they had a fight in July 1864. After this war both of them fell into awful predicament because of the government. The government didn't work in the way that Satsuma and Choshu expected.　Even though they had fought in the past, their complaints about politics became agreement. Then Nakaoka and Sakamoto stood up for making relationship between two domains. They thought if it’s possible to make Satcho-Alliance they could kick the government away and complete Sonno-Jyoui. They wanted to bring power back from government to the emperor. Actually they had their own trade company, “Kameyama-Syachu”. They tried to make connection between the two domains using trade. Satsuma was good at producing weapons and Choshu had huge rice fields. Nakaoka and Sakamoto made every effort to persuade people on both sides.

It wasn't easy to get people who were against Satcho Alliance to assent but they have never given up. In 1866 the head of both domains had an assembly and finally they assented to Satcho Alliance.

References

Wikipedia

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/薩長同盟

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/中岡慎太郎

Web site for Shintaro Nakaoka

中岡慎太郎会：http://www.geocities.jp/shintaro1838/

Inoue Masaru

By Hikaru Kawasaki

Inoue Masaru

Have you ever heard of Inoue Masaru, who is called the “Father of Japan’s Railways? He was one of the Choshu five, who went to study abroad while it was still illegal to leave Japan. He was born on August 24th in 1843 at Hagi in Yamaguchi prefecture, in southern Japan. He was brought up as a samurai belonging to the Choshu clan who controlled that area. In 1863, however, he and four friends from Choshu clan sneaked into a vessel which went to the UK. He studied civil engineering and mining at University College London and came back to Japan in 1868. After he came back, he took a leadership in Japan’s railway planning and construction, and he was appointed the Director of the Railway Board in 1871. He thought railways should be under national control, and he worked for a creation of the Railway Nationalization Act. He died of an illness in London in 1910, during an official visit on behalf of the Ministry of Railways. Thanks to him, Japanese railway developed and made our life convenient. Without him, it would have been more difficult for Japan to develop in that time, and also we might not have a good train system today.

One of the most important things which he did was making the first railway in Japan. In 1872, the government decided to make a railway, and he was appointed the supervisor because he saw many techniques about it in London. He often went to the construction field and gave instructions by himself. In 1875, the first railway was opened between Shinbashi and Yokohama, which are famous places around Tokyo. The Meiji emperor rode on the rail and told him to expand the railway system throughout Japan, so he was inspired and made more efforts after that. To build up a railway between Kyoto and Otsu, which are located in middle parts of Japan, a tunnel construction was needed, but it was such a difficult work. In addition, it was said that it was impossible to build a tunnel by Japanese without foreign help, but he succeeded in making it only by Japanese people in 1883. In 1892, he finally finished making the Tokaido line between Tokyo and Kobe, located in the centre of Japan. There were no other people who had much knowledge about the railway except him, so he worked hard to expand the railways. In 1894, the railway between Ueno located in Tokyo and Aomori in the north of Japan was also opened.

Why did he work so hard for making the railway? In that time, transportation system in Japan wasn’t good, and walking was the main way for the transportation. There was a mikoshi which is a box carried by people, but only rich people used it. Also, only samurai officers used war-horses. For most people, there was no other useful transportation but walking, so he thought Japan needed the railway. Though horse carts and jinrikisha were developing, he thought they were not enough. He was hoping that the railway system would make life more convenient and also bring in benefits for the Japanese economy. The railway made it possible for people to travel all over Japan, and people exchanged their materials and information with other Japanese so that they could help each other more. That’s why he worked so hard for the railway system.

He resigned as the director in 1893, but he kept working for the railway. In that time, the railway was developing, but it relied on foreign techniques and materials. Thus, Japan needed to pay much money to foreign countries. Then he thought Japan needed the technique which was made and used by Japanese. He cooperated with some of his friends such as Mori and Iwasaki, who were rich and had good education, and they established a new company called “Train production firm company” in 1896. The company built plants in Osaka and got orders for making trains. Thanks to the demand of the railway caused by Russo-Japan War, the company got many orders and became a big company. Also, other companies were established after that, which improved Japanese railway techniques.

He died in London in 1910 while he was visiting there as studying railways. Through his life, he worked for Japanese railway system, and he improved Japanese transportation system. In 1914, his statue was made at Marunouchi station, which is a famous place in Tokyo, to admire his achievement. Without him, Japanese railway would not really have developed, and transportation system would have been inconvenient. Thanks to his great effort, Japan got a railway made in Japan, which brought large benefits to Japanese economy and helped Japan develop. Our life would be so different from now if he hadn’t gone to the UK, so we should thank him for his courage in that time.



References

Hidaka Olion, (2010). Father of the railway: Inoue Masaru ~persistence to Made in japan~. Retrieved from http://www13.ocn.ne.jp/~dawn/ on July 25, 2013

Toshikazu, K, (2012). The railway initiation history of Inoue Masaru. Retrieved from http://ktymtskz.my.coocan.jp/denki/inoue.htm on July 25, 2013