Takaaki Kato

A former bureaucrat turned political party politician of the Meiji and Taisho eras. Born on January 3, 1859 in Owari Province (Aichi Prefecture). His real name was Hattori Sokichi. He was adopted into the Kato family in 1872 (Meiji 5), and changed his name to Takaaki in 1874. In 1881, upon graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo, he joined Mitsubishi's headquarters, where he was recognized by president Iwasaki Yataro and became deputy manager of the headquarters in 1885. The following year, he married Yataro's eldest daughter, Haruji. In 1887, he joined the government, serving as a secretary at the embassy, ​​secretary to Foreign Minister Okuma Shigenobu, and director of the Tax Bureau of the Ministry of Finance. In 1894, he was appointed envoy to the United Kingdom, and in 1900 (Meiji 33), he was appointed foreign minister in the fourth cabinet of Ito Hirobumi. After resigning as foreign minister in 1901, he entered politics, was elected to the House of Representatives twice as an independent in 1902 and 1903, and became president of the daily newspaper Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun in 1904. He was appointed foreign minister in the first Saionji Kinmochi cabinet in 1906, and ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the UK in 1909. In 1911, he signed the revised Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation and the revised Anglo-Japanese Alliance, and was awarded the title of baron for his achievements. In 1913 (Taisho 2), he was appointed foreign minister in the third Katsura Taro cabinet, and in the midst of the first constitutional protection movement, he participated in the founding of the Rikken Doshikai (Constitutional Association of Friends), and became the party's prime minister after Katsura's death. In 1914, he became foreign minister in the second Okuma Shigenobu cabinet, where he led diplomacy towards Japan's entry into World War I, and in 1915, he imposed the Twenty-One Demands on the government of Yuan Shikai, infuriating the Chinese people. During this time, he rejected intervention in foreign policy by the genro, promoted the Anglo-Japanese Alliance route, and was at odds with the genro's route towards a Russo-Japanese Treaty. As a result, he resigned as foreign minister in 1915, was appointed a member of the House of Peers by Imperial Rule, and was awarded the title of viscount in 1916. In the same year, he reorganized the Rikken Doshikai into the Kenseikai (Constitutional Political Association) and became its president, but due to opposition from the genro, he was unable to take power and was forced to endure "ten years of hard work."

With the abundant political funds from Mitsubishi, he sought to control the party, and in response to the rise of the Taisho Democracy Movement, he took the plunge into the idea of ​​immediate universal suffrage, and in 1924 he formed an alliance with the Rikken Seiyukai and the Kakushin Club to unite the three factions of constitutional protection, and led the second constitutional protection movement to a landslide victory in the general election, defeating the Kiyoura Keigo cabinet and forming the First Kato Cabinet (the three factions of constitutional protection cabinet). Party politics was thus established, but in 1925 the cooperation of the three factions of constitutional protection was broken, and the Kenseikai alone formed the second cabinet. However, on January 28, 1926, he suddenly died in office from overwork, and was awarded the title of count. In terms of personality, he was known to be "arrogant," "stubborn," and "strong-willed."

[Junichiro Kizaka]

"Kato Takaaki, volumes 1 and 2, edited by Ito Masanori (1929, Kato Haku Biography Compilation Committee/reprint edition, 1970, Hara Shobo)" ▽ "Kato Takaaki, by Kondo Misao (1959, Jiji Press)" ▽ "Prime Ministers of the Meiji and Taisho Eras 8: Kato Takaaki and Taisho Democracy, by Toyoda Jo (1984, Kodansha)" ▽ "Biography Series: Kato Takaaki - Biography of Kato Takaaki, edited by Ito Masanori (1995, Ozorasha)" ▽ "Kato Takaaki and Party Politics - The Road to a Two-Party System, by Naraoka Satoshi (2006, Yamakawa Publishing)" ▽ "Biography Series of Prime Ministers 15: Kato Takaaki, edited by Mikuriya Takashi (2006, Yumani Shobo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

明治・大正時代の官僚出身の政党政治家。安政(あんせい)7年1月3日尾張(おわり)国（愛知県）に生まれる。本名服部総吉(はっとりふさきち)。1872年（明治5）加藤家の養子となり、1874年高明と改名した。1881年東京大学法学部卒業と同時に三菱(みつびし)本社へ入社、社長岩崎弥太郎(いわさきやたろう)に認められ、1885年本社副支配人となり、翌年弥太郎の長女春治(はるじ)と結婚した。1887年官界に転じ公使館書記官、大隈重信(おおくましげのぶ)外相秘書官、大蔵省主税局長などを経て、1894年駐英公使として活躍、1900年（明治33）第四次伊藤博文(いとうひろぶみ)内閣の外相に就任した。1901年外相辞任後政界に転じ、1902年と1903年の二度無所属で衆議院議員に当選し、1904年『東京日日新聞』の日報社社長となった。1906年第一次西園寺公望(さいおんじきんもち)内閣の外相、1909年駐英特命全権大使に就任、1911年には日英通商航海条約改定と日英同盟改定に調印し、功により男爵を授けられた。1913年（大正2）第三次桂太郎(かつらたろう)内閣の外相に就任、第一次護憲運動のさなかに立憲同志会の創立に参画し、桂の死後同党の総理に就任した。1914年第二次大隈重信内閣の外相となり、第一次世界大戦への参戦外交を指導、1915年には対華二十一か条要求を袁世凱(えんせいがい)政府に押し付け、中国民衆の憤激を買った。その間、元老の外交政策への介入を排除し、日英同盟路線を推進して元老らの日露協約路線と対立したため、1915年外相を辞任、貴族院議員に勅選され、1916年子爵を授けられた。同年立憲同志会を憲政会に改組して総裁となったが、元老の反対により政権の座につけず、「苦節十年」を余儀なくされた。

　三菱からの豊富な政治資金により党内の統制を図るとともに、大正デモクラシー運動の高揚に対応して普通選挙即行論に踏み切り、1924年立憲政友会、革新倶楽部(くらぶ)と護憲三派の盟約を結び、第二次護憲運動を指導して総選挙に大勝し、清浦奎吾(きようらけいご)内閣を打ち倒して第一次加藤内閣（護憲三派内閣）を組織した。ここに政党政治が確立されたが、1925年護憲三派の協調が破れ、憲政会単独で第二次内閣を組織した。しかし大正15年1月28日、過労がもとで在任中に急死し、伯爵を授けられた。性格的には「傲岸(ごうがん)」「頑固一徹」「剛腹」で有名であった。

［木坂順一郎］

『伊藤正徳編『加藤高明』上下（1929・加藤伯伝記編纂委員会／復刻版・1970・原書房）』▽『近藤操著『加藤高明』（1959・時事通信社）』▽『豊田穣著『明治・大正の宰相8　加藤高明と大正デモクラシー』（1984・講談社）』▽『伊藤正徳編『伝記叢書　加藤高明――伝記・加藤高明』上下（1995・大空社）』▽『奈良岡聰智著『加藤高明と政党政治――二大政党制への道』（2006・山川出版社）』▽『御厨貴監修『歴代総理大臣伝記叢書15　加藤高明』（2006・ゆまに書房）』

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