Shiga Shigetaka

Japanese: 志賀重昂 - しが・しげたか

Year of death: April 6, 1927
Year of birth: Bunkyu 3.11.15 (1863.12.25)
A thinker, politician, and geographer of the Meiji and Taisho periods. His pen name was Hagikawa. He was born as the eldest son of Shiga Yoshiko, a feudal lord of the Okazaki Domain (Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture). He moved to Tokyo in 1874 (Meiji 7). After graduating from Kogakusha and the preparatory school for the University of Tokyo, he graduated from Sapporo Agricultural College in 1884. In 1884, he traveled aboard the warship Tsukuba to the South Seas Islands. He witnessed the reality of the division of the South Seas by the great powers, and in 1887 he wrote Nanyo Jiji (Current Affairs of the South Seas). In 1888, he founded Seikyosha with Miyake Setsurei and others, and launched the magazine Nihonjin (Japanese). He advocated the "principle of preserving national essence," and waged a hard-line foreign policy campaign in the early Imperial Diet. He later played an active role as a central figure in the Chuo Seikyosha and Doshikai. He also belonged to the Progressive Party, the Constitutional Party, the Constitutional Party, and the Rikken Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government). During this time, he was appointed Director of the Forestry Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce in 1897. In 1898, he was appointed Imperially Appointed Counselor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was elected to the House of Representatives twice, in 1900 and 1901. He lost the election in 1902. After that, he left politics and became an enlightened geographer and world traveler. His book "Nihon Fukeiron" (1894), which is said to have played a major role in changing the Japanese people's awareness of scenic beauty, became a huge bestseller and went through multiple editions. <Works> "Unknown Countries" <References> "Shiga Shigetaka Complete Works" (8 volumes) compiled by the Shiga Shigetaka Complete Works Publishing Committee, Iwai Tadakuma "Research on the History of Meiji Nationalist Thought"

(Hiroshi Sasa)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：昭和2.4.6(1927)
生年：文久3.11.15(1863.12.25)
明治大正期の思想家,政治家,地理学者。号は矧川。岡崎藩(愛知県岡崎市)藩士志賀重職,淑子の長男として生まれる。明治7(1874)年上京。攻玉社,東大予備門を経て,17年札幌農学校卒業。19年軍艦「筑波」に便乗,南洋諸島を巡航。列強による南洋分割の実態を見聞し,20年『南洋時事』を著す。21年三宅雪嶺らと政教社を設立,雑誌『日本人』を創刊。「国粋保存旨義」を主張,初期帝国議会において対外硬運動を展開。その後,中央政社,同志会の中心として活躍。さらに進歩党,憲政党,憲政本党,立憲政友会に所属。この間,30年農商務省山林局長。31年外務省勅任参事官。35,36年の2回衆院議員当選。37年落選。以後,政界を離れ,啓蒙的地理学者,世界旅行家として活動。日本人の景観美の意識変革に大きな役割を果たしたとされる著『日本風景論』(1894)は版を重ね大ベストセラーとなる。<著作>『知られざる国々』<参考文献>志賀重昂全集刊行会編『志賀重昂全集』全8巻,岩井忠熊『明治国家主義思想史研究』

(佐々博雄)

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