Itagaki Taisuke

Itagaki Taisuke was born May 21, 1837 in the settlement of Nakajima in the principality of Tosa ^[1] , in a samurai family. His father, Inui Masanori, was a daimyo guard and had an annual income of 220 koku . 1860 , after the death of his father, Taisuke inherited a guard post.

At the beginning of 1861, Taisuke became head of the storerooms. In November of the same year, thanks to the support of Yamauchi Tooshige , he was appointed deputy ruler of Tosa in Edo . At the end of the same year, the young administrator took the post of secret servant of the ruler, and in 1862 - the position of his private adviser.

In his youth, Taisuke was a supporter of the radical idea of ​​expelling foreigners from Japan , but eventually changed his position to moderate. He was in confrontation with the radical " Party of Monarchists " led by Taketa Zuizan. In 1865 , along with Goto Shojiro , Taisuke served as senior investigator in the trial of this party. After the trial, her leaders were tortured and executed.

In June 1867 , returning home to Edo via Kyoto , Taisuke met Saigo Takamori through the mediation of Nakaoki Shintaro . He concluded a secret treaty between the principalities of Satsuma and Tosa on the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate . Returning to Tosa, the 30-year-old politician began preparations for an armed uprising.

Meiji Restoration

After the proclamation of the elimination of the shogunate and the restoration of Meiji in January 1868, a civil war broke out in Japan, in which Tysuke sided with the new imperial government . He formed a "lightning detachment" of thousands of samurai of the Principality of Tosa and went to Kyoto to support the monarchy. On their way, the “lightning” defeated the forces of supporters of the restoration of the shogunate - the troops of the principalities of Kavanoe , Marugame , Takamatsu and many others, and in early February arrived in the Japanese capital. In Kyoto, the government appointed Tysuke the main front-line general in the Tosando region , entrusting him with military units consisting of about 600 pro-government principalities. It was during this period that the general changed his generic name Inui Inosuke to Itagaki Taisuke. By December 1868, he had conquered Ogaki , Shinano Province , the principalities of Kofu , Hatioji , Utsunomiya and Aizu .

In 1869, Taisuke took part in administrative reform , with the aim of eliminating the autonomy of the principalities and centralizing the country. In 1871, he was appointed to the post of imperial adviser for his services. In 1873 , along with Saigo Takamori , Taisuke insisted on the need to conquer Korea . However, his group was defeated during the government debate, in connection with which he resigned as an adviser and resigned .

Public figure

Since 1874, Taisuke led the public " Movement for Freedom and People’s Rights ", which demanded the democratization of the country. In January of the same year, he, together with Goto Shojiro, founded the Public Party of Patriots and filed a petition to the government demanding the convening of a popular parliament. In March 1875, Taisuke again took up the post of imperial adviser , but due to differences of opinion with other officials, he resigned from the government in October of the same year. After that, he completely devoted himself to participation in the movement for freedom and people's rights.

In October 1881, Taisuke became one of the founders and leaders of the Liberal Party of Japan . In April 1882, an assassination attempt was made on him during a walk in Gifu . The wounded Taisuke turned to the criminal with the words that became the catchphrase in Japan: “You can kill me, but freedom is immortal!” ^[2] .

From November 1882 to June 1883, Taisuke traveled to Europe and the United States . Upon his return to Japan, he became a supporter of the dissolution of the Liberal Party and, after meeting with its leadership in 1884 , took part in its liquidation. In May 1887, for his services to the throne, the Emperor granted Taisuke the title of count and equated him with kazoku . He three times refused the title, but in the end in July agreed to accept it, provided that the title would not be passed on to his descendants by inheritance. Since August of that year, Taisuke developed and submitted to the emperor his projects on the establishment of parliament , the introduction of freedom of speech and the system of increasing the capacity of the Navy , the revision of unequal agreements with foreign states, etc. After that, he left Tokyo , having moved to his homeland in Koti .

In March 1889 , in the Great Unity social movement led by Goto Shojiro , a split occurred between advocates of cooperation with the government of Kuroda Kiyotaki and his irreconcilable opponents. At the request of Goto, Taisuke arrived in Tokyo and in May 1890 decided to reorganize the movement on the basis of the Public Party of Patriots . In September of the same year, he combined this party with the remnants of the Liberal Party and the Great Unity club , and formed the Constitutional Liberal Party . She sharply criticized the government, demanded the establishment of a weekend system and a reduction in the cost of government administration. However, in February 1891 , at the first congress of the party, Taisuke found out that its delegates from Tosa were bribed by the government and, feeling their responsibility for this, left their party ticket. A month later, he returned to the leadership of the Constitutional Liberal Party and was elected its chairman.

In 1895, Taisuke began negotiations with the government of Ito Hirobumi and in April 1896 joined it, taking the post of Minister of the Interior . However, already in September of that year, he left his post and concentrated on party activities. In June 1898, Taisuke re-took up the post of Minister of the Interior in the Government of the Constitutional Party , but in October he suddenly resigned. Subsequently, he ceased to engage in politics and became engaged in social problems. In 1904, Taisuke organized the Society for the Improvement of Customs, which published the magazine Friendship and Love ( Japanese 友愛 ) , and in 1907 published its work titled “One Generation” ( Japanese 一代 華 族 論 ) , in which he urged to stop the practice of inheriting titles and positions for the kazoku estate.

July 16, 1919 83-year-old Itagaki Taisuke died in Tokyo .

• ITAGAKI Taisuke // Japan from A to Z. Popular Illustrated Encyclopedia. (CD-ROM). - M .: Directmedia Publishing , "Japan Today", 2008. - ISBN 978-5-94865-190-3 .
• Itagaki Taisuke // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Itagaki Taisuke // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Itagaki, Taisuke . - Website of the National Parliamentary Library of Japan . Archived on August 25, 2011.