Kuroda Kiyotaka

In this Japanese name, the surname is Kuroda.

Count Junior First Rank Kuroda Kiyotaka
黒田 清隆
President of the Privy Council
In office 17 March 1894 – 23 August 1900
Monarch	Meiji
Preceded by	Yamagata Aritomo
Succeeded by	Saionji Kinmochi
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 31 August 1896 – 18 September 1896 Acting
Monarch	Meiji
Preceded by	Itō Hirobumi
Succeeded by	Matsukata Masayoshi
In office 30 April 1888 – 25 October 1889
Monarch	Meiji
Preceded by	Itō Hirobumi
Succeeded by	Sanjō Sanetomi (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1840-11-09)9 November 1840 Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain (now Kagoshima, Japan)
Died	23 August 1900(1900-08-23) (aged 59) Tokyo, Japan
Cause of death	Intracerebral hemorrhage
Political party	Independent
Signature
Japanese name
Kyūjitai	黑田 淸隆
Shinjitai	黒田 清隆
Transcriptions Romanization Kuroda Kiyotaka

Count Kuroda Kiyotaka (黒田 清隆, 9 November 1840 – 23 August 1900), also known as Kuroda Ryōsuke (黒田 了介), was a Japanese statesman and diplomat of the Meiji era who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1888 to 1889. He was also President of the Privy Council, Minister of Communications and Vice Chairman of the Hokkaido Development Commission (Kaitaku-shi). He was one of the initiators of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg in 1875.

Biography

Nishiki-e painting of Kuroda Kiyotaka

As a Satsuma samurai

Kuroda was born to a samurai-class family serving the Shimazu daimyō of Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain, in Kyūshū.

In 1862, Kuroda was involved in the Namamugi incident, in which Satsuma retainers killed a British national who refused to bow down to the daimyo's procession. This led to the Anglo-Satsuma War in 1863, in which Kuroda played an active role. Immediately after the war, he went to Edo where he studied gunnery.

Returning to Satsuma, Kuroda became an active member of the Satsuma-Chōshū joint effort to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. Later, as a military leader in the Boshin War, he became famous for sparing the life of Enomoto Takeaki, who had stood against Kuroda's army at the Battle of Hakodate.

Political and diplomatic career

Kiyotaka Kuroda at a young age

Marquess Kuroda Nagahiro of Fukuoka Domain. Kuroda Kiyotaka received supports from Fukuoka Domain which later proved their critical roles in Kuroda's political career.

Under the new Meiji government, Kuroda in 1870 became a pioneer-diplomat to Sakhalin, then known in Japanese as Karafuto and claimed by both Japan and the Russian Empire. Terrified of Russia's push eastward, Kuroda returned to Tokyo and advocated quick development and settlement of Japan's northern frontier.

In 1871, he traveled to Europe and the United States for five months, and upon returning to Japan in 1872, he was put in charge of colonization efforts in Hokkaidō.

In 1874, Kuroda was named director of the Hokkaidō Colonization Office, and organized a colonist-militia scheme to settle the island with unemployed ex-samurai and retired soldiers who would serve as both farmers and as a local militia. He was also promoted to lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. Kuroda invited agricultural experts from overseas countries with a similar climate to visit Hokkaidō, and to provide advice on what crops and production methods might be successful.

Kuroda was dispatched as an envoy to Korea in 1875, and negotiated the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876. In 1877, he was sent as part of the force to suppress the Satsuma Rebellion. In 1878, he became de facto leader of Satsuma Domain following the assassination of Ōkubo Toshimichi.

Shortly before he left office in Hokkaidō, Kuroda became the central figure in the Hokkaidō Colonization Office Scandal of 1881. As part of the government's privatization program, Kuroda attempted to sell the assets of the Hokkaidō Colonization Office to a trading consortium created by some of his former Satsuma colleagues for a nominal price. When the terms of the sale were leaked to the press, the resultant public outrage caused the sale to fall through. Also in 1881, Kuroda's wife died of a lung disease, but on rumors that Kuroda had killed her in a drunken rage, the body was exhumed and examined. Kuroda was cleared of charges, but rumors of his problems with alcohol abuse persisted.

The embassy of Kuroda Kiyotaka, in Pusan, on its way to Ganghwa Island (江華島), Korea, 16 January 1876. There were 2 warships (Nisshin, Moshun and 3 troop transports of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and one liner for the embassy led by Kuroda.

In 1887, Kuroda was appointed to the cabinet post of Minister of Agriculture and Commerce.

Prime minister

Kuroda Kiyotaka became the 2nd Prime Minister of Japan, after Itō Hirobumi in 1888. During his term, he oversaw the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution. However, the vexing issue of Japan's inability to secure revision of the unequal treaties created considerable controversy. After drafts of proposed revisions drawn up by his foreign minister Ōkuma Shigenobu became public in 1889, the plan to appoint foreigners as judicial officers to abolish consular jurisdiction met with great opposition, and on 18 October a bombing occurred. In response to this, nearly all cabinet members abandoned amending the treaty, and Kuroda had no choice but to agree. On 25 October, Kuroda was forced to resign. He was succeeded by Sanjō Sanetomi as acting prime minister. Then, on 24 December 1889, Yamagata Aritomo, an army Field Marshal (Gensui) became the next prime minister of Japan.

Later life

Kuroda served as Minister of Communications in 1892 under the 2nd Ito Cabinet. In 1895 he became a genrō, and chairman of the Privy Council.

Kuroda died of a brain hemorrhage in 1900 and Enomoto Takeaki presided over his funeral ceremonies. His grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

Honours

From the corresponding Japanese Wikipedia article

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2 November 1877)
• Count (7 July 1884)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (20 August 1895)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (25 August 1900; posthumous)

See also

• List of Ambassadors from Japan to South Korea

Further reading

• Auslin, Michael R. (2006). Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01521-0; OCLC 56493769
• Jansen, Marius B. (2000). The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674003347; OCLC 44090600
• Keene, Donald. (2002). Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12340-2; OCLC 46731178
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Sims, Richard L. (2001). Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868–2000. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780312239145; ISBN 9780312239152; OCLC 45172740

External links

Media related to Kiyotaka Kuroda at Wikimedia Commons