Hijikata Hisamoto
{{Short description|Japanese politician}}
{{No footnotes|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox person
|honorific_prefix= Count
| name = Hijikata Hisamoto
| native_name = 土方 久元
| native_name_lang = ja
| image = Hijikata Hisamoto.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1833|11|23}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1918|11|04|1833|11|23}}
| death_place =
| nationality = Japanese
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation = Politician, Cabinet Minister
}}
{{family name hatnote|Hijikata|lang=Japanese}}
Count {{nihongo|Hijikata Hisamoto|{{linktext|土方 | 久元}}| |extra=23 November 1833 – 4 November 1918}} was a Japanese politician and cabinet minister of the Meiji period.
Biography
Hijikata was a samurai in Tosa Domain (modern-day Kōchi Prefecture). He was sent by the domain to Edo for studies, where he became involved in the sonnō jōi movement, and after returning to Tosa, he joined Takechi Hanpeita's {{illm|Tosa Kinnōtō|ja|土佐勤王党}} movement. He travelled with Takechi to Kyoto in 1863, where he joined forces with the anti-Tokugawa shogunate forces of Chōshū Domain and made contact with the kuge aristocracy, most notably Sanjō Sanetomi. After the abortive coup against the Shogunate later that year, he was forced into exile with Sanjō to Chōshū. Following the First Chōshū expedition, he fled to Fukuoka Domain together with Sanjō, where he later met with fellow Tosa countrymen Nakaoka Shintarō, and Sakamoto Ryōma whom he assisted in securing Sanjō’s support for the Satchō Alliance.
Following the Meiji restoration, Hijikata joined the Meiji government and was appointed a public prosecutor in Tokyo. He subsequently served in the Imperial Household Ministry and Home Ministry and as Cabinet Secretary to the Daijō-kan cabinet. He was subsequently made a tutor, then an Imperial Councilor to Emperor Meiji, who placed a great deal of confidence in him, and who made him a viscount (shishaku) in the kazoku peerage in 1884.
In 1885, with the establishment of the cabinet system, Hijikata was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Commerce under the 1st Itō Hirobumi administration in 1887, and Imperial Household Ministry from 1887-1898. He was also made a member of the Privy Council from 1888.
Hijikata was awarded the title of count (hakushaku) in 1895. After his retirement from the Imperial Household Ministry, he served as president of Kokugakuin University. He died in 1918 at the age of 86, and his grave is at the Somei Cemetery in Tokyo.
References
- {{Cite book|author=Beasley, William G. |title=The Meiji Restoration |year=1972|location=Stanford |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=9780804708159}}, [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/579232 OCLC 579232]
- {{Cite book|title= Japan in Transition: from Tokugawa to Meiji|editor1-last=Jansen|editor1-first=Marius B.|editor1-link=Marius Jansen|editor2-last=Rozman|editor2-first=Gilbert Rozman|editor2-link=Gilbert Rozman |year=1986|location= Princeton|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn= 9780691054599}} [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12311985 OCLC 12311985]
- {{Cite book|last=Jansen|first=Marius B.|title=Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration|year=1961|location=Princeton |publisher=Princeton University Press }} [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/413111 OCLC 413111]
- {{citation|title= Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912|last=Keene|first=Donald|author-link=Donald Keene|year= 2002|publisher=Columbia University Press}} {{ISBN|9780231123402}}; [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/46731178 OCLC 46731178]
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | before=Itō Hirobumi | title=Imperial Household Minister | years= Sept 1887 – Feb 1898| after=Tanaka Mitsuaki}}
{{succession box | before=Tani Tateki | title=Minister of Agriculture & Commerce | years=Jul 1887 – Sep 1887| after=Kuroda Kiyotaka}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hijikata, Hisamoto}}
Category:People from Tosa Domain
Category:Politicians from Kōchi Prefecture