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Itō Hirobumi (伊藤 博文, 16 October 1841 – 26 October 1909) was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the genrō , a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era .
- Overview
- Early career
- Rise to power
Itō Hirobumi, (born October 14, 1841, Suō province [now in Yamaguchi prefecture], Japan—died October 26, 1909, Harbin, Manchuria, China), Japanese elder statesman (genro) and premier (1885–88, 1892–96, 1898, 1900–01), who played a crucial role in building modern Japan. He helped draft the Meiji constitution (1889) and brought about the establishmen...
Itō’s father was an adopted son of a modest samurai (warrior) family in the Chōshū domain of western Japan, and Itō grew up amid convulsive political conditions surrounding the decline of the Tokugawa shogunate—which had governed Japan since 1603—and the rise of Western influence in the country. He played a minor role in the events leading to the Meiji Restoration (1868), the movement that overthrew the shogunate and reestablished the formal ruling authority of the emperor. This brought him into contact with men like Kido Takayoshi, who was to become one of the great leaders of early Meiji Japan and who was Itō’s most important mentor in those years.
Itō’s talents were apparent even before the restoration, and the leaders of Chōshū sent him to England (along with his friend Inoue Kaoru) to study Western naval science (1863). His connections with Kido and Ōkubo Toshimichi, the other giant of early Meiji Japan, enabled him to undertake government assignments to the United States and the Iwakura Mission to Europe (1870, 1871–73) to study and work on matters as diverse as taxation and budgetary systems and treaty revision.
His political career changed decisively when Ōkubo, the most powerful man in the government, was assassinated in 1878, and Itō succeeded him as minister of home affairs. His advancement brought him into conflict with the equally talented and ambitious statesman Ōkuma Shigenobu. In a series of masterful political strokes, Itō forced Ōkuma and his supporters out of the government in 1881 and persuaded the government to adopt a constitution; by 1889 the emperor had proclaimed it, and in 1890 the national Diet was established.
Preparations for constitutional government were made with utmost seriousness. Itō, by then the most important person in the Meiji government, and other officials spent nearly one and a half years (1882–83) in Europe, notably in Germany, studying under leading constitutional scholars. The Meiji constitution, Itō’s greatest handiwork, has been criticized for perpetuating authoritarian rule because the guarantees of civil rights and the Diet’s powers were hedged by restrictions. Actually, given the Meiji leaders’ samurai background and the tense domestic and foreign problems they faced, the unprecedented acknowledgment in writing of basic rights and the establishment of the Diet were progressive and enlightened acts. It should also be noted that neither Itō nor any of the Meiji leaders ever pointed to these tensions and difficulties as an excuse for reverting to tight authoritarian control.
Itō’s preeminence continued in the 1890s. In mid decade, as prime minister, he helped Japan attain two important successes. The first was an agreement with Great Britain (signed in 1894) for doing away with extraterritoriality by 1899 (i.e., from that date British nationals in Japan would be subject to Japanese law). That pact was followed by others with other major Western countries. The second achievement was Japan’s victory over China in 1895; both accomplishments were among the first clear signs that Japan, alone among non-Western countries, had achieved success in modernization and a weightier role in East Asian affairs.
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Domestically, Itō did not fare as well. He had felt, along with other genro, that party politicians were incapable of dealing dispassionately with Japan’s welfare and destiny; and, indeed, the powers guaranteed by the Meiji constitution enabled the political parties to impede government programs in the Diet. Itō unhappily, but with characteristic flexibility, continually worked out compromises with the parties until by 1900 no cabinet could be formed without their tacit consent. From the start the parties had been cooperating with the government in return for cabinet positions and laws favouring party growth. Itō made one last move to salvage the situation by leaving the government and forming the Rikken Seiyūkai (“Friends of Constitutional Government”), which he based on an older antigovernment party, the Kenseitō (“Constitutional Association”). The Seiyūkai became the first party to control an absolute majority in the House of Representatives during a Diet session, which led Itō to believe that he had finally created the right conditions for smooth passage of government programs. He did not count on the obstructive tactics of the House of Peers, however, whose conservative members were unhappy with Itō’s alliance with the parties. Ironically, Itō had originally created the House of Peers to balance what he considered the less-than-responsible House of Representatives. Finally, embittered with the knowledge that dealing with party members, each with his own constituency to answer to, was infinitely more difficult and distasteful than working with a handful of genro, all of the same background and inspiration, he resigned as president of the Rikken Seiyūkai in 1903. But Itō paid for having broken genro ranks; soon afterward Yamagata Aritomo, founder of the modern Japanese army, became the leading power among the powerful genro.
He was chosen to be the prime minister of the first cabinet government in 1885, and later began to promote party politics. In 1888, he became head of the privy council, serving four more times as prime minister in 1892-1896, 1898-1899, and 1900-1901, and leading Japan to the status of a world power.
Nov 11, 2011 · Itō Hirobumi (伊藤博文) was born as Hayashi Risuke to Hayashi Jūzō, a farmer in the feudal province of Choshu and was adopted by Itō Naoemon, a low-ranking samurai and renamed Itō Shunsuke. He studied with Kuruhara Ryōzō (來原良藏, 1829-62), a prominent official in Chōshū and a brother-in-law of Kido Takayoshi .
Itō Hirobumi - Japanese Statesman, Assassination: In 1905, following the Russo-Japanese War, Itō was sent to Korea to negotiate the treaty that turned Korea into a Japanese protectorate. He returned there as resident general (1906–09), where he pursued a gradualist policy of economic and bureaucratic reform.
Itō Hirobumi was a prominent Japanese statesman and leader during the Meiji Restoration who played a crucial role in the drafting of the Meiji Constitution.
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Mar 8, 2024 · Ito Hirobumi's assassination in 1909 by a Korean nationalist underscored the controversial nature of his legacy. In Japan, he is celebrated as a visionary leader who modernized the nation and set it on the path to becoming an empire.
