Kaitakushi - Kaitakushi

This government office was established in the early Meiji period to develop Hokkaido, Karafuto (Sakhalin), and other areas. It was established in July 1869 (Meiji 2) as part of a government reform immediately after the return of the domain and people to the Emperor. In February 1870, the Sakhalin Colonization Commission was separated and called the Hokkaido Colonization Commission, but in August 1871, it became the Colonization Commission again. In 1875, the Treaty of Exchange of Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands removed Sakhalin from its jurisdiction and added the Kuril Islands north of Uruppu Island to its jurisdiction. Nabeshima Naomasa and then Higashikuze Michitomi became Colonization Commissioners, but in May 1870, Kuroda Kiyotaka became Vice-Minister of Colonization and became the de facto leader. Kuroda became Colonization Commissioner in August 1874, and because he gathered people from the Satsuma Domain among the senior bureaucrats of the Colonization Commission, it came to be seen as a hotbed of the Satsuma faction.

Over the 10 years since 1872, the government invested more than 20 million yen, and with the advice of advisors including Capron, who was invited from the United States, established the Sapporo headquarters, built roads and railways, opened coal mines, sent settlers such as the Tondenhei (garrison soldiers), and built various manufacturing plants for beer, sugar, flax, lumber, fishing equipment, and farming tools. They also invited Clark to open the Sapporo Agricultural School and set up government gardens (experimental sites) in various areas, and made efforts to train pioneer bureaucrats and engineers and introduce Western farming methods and varieties, but the nature of the projects was still very experimental, and the projects were concentrated in the Sapporo area. In February 1882, the year after the Hokkaido Development Agency's public property transfer incident, the prefecture was abolished and divided into three prefectures: Hakodate, Sapporo, and Nemuro, and many of the government-run projects were transferred to the Hokkaido Business Management Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, which was established in 1883. In 1886, the prefectures were unified again into the Hokkaido Prefectural Government.

[Hideo Nagai]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

北海道、樺太(からふと)（サハリン）などの開拓のために設けられた明治初年の官庁。1869年（明治2）7月、版籍奉還直後の官制改革によって設置、1870年2月には樺太開拓使を分置し北海道開拓使と称したが、1871年8月にはふたたび開拓使となった。1875年の樺太・千島交換条約により樺太を管轄から除き、得撫(ウルップ)島以北の千島列島を管轄に加えた。鍋島直正(なべしまなおまさ)、ついで東久世通禧(ひがしくぜみちとみ)が開拓長官となったが、1870年5月に黒田清隆(きよたか)が開拓次官となり実質的中心となった。黒田は1874年8月開拓長官となり、開拓使の上級官僚に薩摩(さつま)藩出身者を集めたので、薩閥の温床とみられるようになった。

　1872年以降の10年間に2000万円以上の経費を投じ、アメリカから招いたケプロン以下の顧問団の助言を得て、札幌本府を開き、道路、鉄道を建設し、炭鉱を開き、屯田兵(とんでんへい)以下の移住民を送り、またビール、砂糖、亜麻(あま)、木材、漁具、農具など各種の製造工場をつくった。またクラークを招いて札幌農学校を開き各地に官園（試験場）を設けるなど、開拓官僚、技術者の養成と洋式農法、品種の導入に努めたが、まだ試験的な性格が強く、諸事業は札幌周辺に偏っていた。開拓使官有物払下げ事件の翌1882年2月廃止されて、函館(はこだて)、札幌、根室の3県に分割され、官営諸事業の多くは1883年に置かれた農商務省北海道事業管理局に移管された。1886年ふたたび北海道庁に統一された。

［永井秀夫］

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