Hironaka Kono

A freedom and people's rights activist and politician in the Meiji and Taisho periods. Born on July 7, 1859, to a family in Miharu Domain (Fukushima Prefecture). His pen name was Banshu. He showed an interest in politics from an early age, and during the Boshin War he worked hard to lead the domain's opinion in favor of anti-shogunate support. After the new government was established, he served in Wakamatsu Prefecture and the Miharu Domain Office, and later served as head of household in Tokiwa and district in Ishikawa. During his time as head of household and district, he was inspired by the ideas of Mill and others, and worked hard to establish a people's assembly and a political association called Sekiyosha. He joined the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, which was gaining momentum at the time, and in 1880 (Meiji 13), he was selected as a member of the committee that presented the petition for the opening of the National Diet, and eventually became a national leader of the movement. Meanwhile, in April 1881, at the tender age of 31, he became chairman of the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly and fought hard to establish local autonomy. As a result, in the following year, 1882, he clashed violently with prefectural governor Mishima Michitsune, who was pushing for an autocratic, bureaucratic administration, and was arrested and sentenced to seven years of light imprisonment for a crime against the state (the Fukushima Incident). He was released from prison under a general amnesty following the promulgation of the Constitution in 1889, and was elected in the first general election the following year, after which he was elected 14 times in a row. During this time, he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1903 (Meiji 36) and Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the second Okuma Shigenobu Cabinet in 1915 (Taisho 4). During his time as chairman, he impeached the Katsura Taro Cabinet by relying on the Imperial Rescript to Response, famously known as the "Imperial Rescript Response Incident." He left the Liberal Party, which he had been deeply involved with since its founding in 1897, and then frequently changed political parties, which led to doubts about his political integrity, but he never lost sight of the idea of ​​"universal suffrage" that he had cultivated during the civil rights movement, and worked hard to realize it. He died while still in office on December 29, 1923. He is buried at Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo.

[Kunio Yasuzai]

"The Kono Iwashi-den" Volumes 1 and 2 (1923, Dosho Kankokai)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

明治・大正期の自由民権運動家、政治家。嘉永(かえい)2年7月7日、三春(みはる)藩（福島県）の家に生まれる。号は磐州(ばんしゅう)。早くから政治に関心を示し、戊辰戦争(ぼしんせんそう)時には藩論を討幕派へ導くため奔走、新政権成立後は若松県や三春藩庁へ出仕し、のち常葉(ときわ)の戸長、石川の区長を務めた。戸・区長在職中ミルの思想などに啓発され、民会の開設や政治結社石陽社(せきようしゃ)の創設に尽力、おりから澎湃(ほうはい)として起こった自由民権運動に加わり、1880年（明治13）には国会開設上願書の捧呈(ほうてい)委員に選ばれるなど、やがて運動の全国的な指導者となった。一方、1881年4月には弱冠31歳で福島県会の議長につき、地方自治の確立のため奮闘した。そのため翌1882年専制的官治的行政を推し進める県令三島通庸(みしまみちつね)と激しく衝突して捕縛され、国事犯として軽禁獄7年に処せられた（福島事件）。1889年憲法発布の大赦により出獄し、翌年の第1回総選挙に当選して以後14回連続当選。この間1903年（明治36）衆議院議長、1915年（大正4）第二次大隈重信(おおくましげのぶ)内閣の農商務大臣を歴任した。議長時代、勅語奉答に託して行った桂太郎(かつらたろう)内閣弾劾は「勅語奉答文事件」として有名。1897年創立以来深くかかわっていた自由党を離党してのちたびたび所属政党を変えたため、政治節操を疑われたりしたが、民権運動期に培った「普選」の理念は一貫して失わず、その実現を目ざして活躍した。大正12年12月29日、議員在職中没。墓は東京の護国寺。

［安在邦夫］

『『河野磐州伝』上下（1923・同書刊行会）』

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