Kencho Suematsu

Japanese: 末松謙澄 - すえまつ・けんちょう

Year of death: October 5, 1920
Year of birth: 1855
A bureaucrat and politician in the Meiji and Taisho eras. His pen name was Seiho, and his childhood name was Senmatsu. He was the fourth son of Fusasumi Suematsu and Nobuko, a village headman from Maeda Village, Kyoto County, Kokura Domain, Buzen Province (now Yukuhashi City, Fukuoka Prefecture). He studied Chinese classics at Murakami Butsun's Suisaien Garden, and in 1871 he moved to Tokyo to study under Kondo Makoto. He also met Takahashi Korekiyo, with whom he developed a close friendship. He soon joined the daily newspaper Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun as a reporter, and was recognized by president Fukuchi Genichiro, who appointed him as an editorial writer (under the pen name Sasanami Heiji). In 1895, he gained the acquaintance of Ito Hirobumi through Fukuchi's introduction, and he moved to the government. In 1896, he was assigned to the British Embassy and traveled to England, where he translated the Japanese classic The Tale of Genji into English while studying at Cambridge University (1882). He returned to Japan in 1897. He served as a counselor for the Ministry of Home Affairs before becoming director of the Prefectural Government Bureau. He organized the Drama Improvement Association and directed plays for the Emperor. He translated a novel by the British female writer Bertha Clay and published "The Lily of the Valley." At the request of Tsuta Kazuyasu, head of Kikugun (a fellow student of Suisaien), he persuaded financial don Shibusawa Eiichi to establish Moji Port Co., Ltd., and raised a large amount of funding from the central financial world. In 1947, he married Ito Hirobumi's second daughter, Ikuko. He ran in the first general election from Fukuoka Prefecture and was elected for three consecutive terms. He served as Director-General of the Legislative Bureau, a member of the House of Peers, and successively held the posts of Minister of Communications and Minister of the Interior. During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), he was stationed in Britain and devoted himself to wartime diplomacy. After returning to Japan, he was made a Privy Councilor, a Viscount, and a member of the Imperial Academy. In 1957, he was appointed president of the Mori Family History Editorial Office, and 23 years later, he completed the 12-volume Revised History of the Bungo-Cho Kaiten War. In the preface to the reprint, Suematsu wrote, "Although this book has the title "Bungo-cho", it is in fact no different from the complete history of the Meiji Restoration. I hope that readers will enjoy observing it from this perspective."

(Tamae Hikotaro)

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

Japanese:

没年：大正9.10.5(1920)
生年：安政2(1855)
明治大正時代の官僚,政治家。号は青萍。幼名は線松。豊前国小倉藩京都郡前田村(福岡県行橋市)の大庄屋・末松房澄・伸子の4男。村上仏山の水哉園で漢学を修め,明治4(1871)年上京し近藤真琴に学ぶ。また高橋是清と出会い親交を深めた。まもなく『東京日日新聞』の日報社に記者として入り,社長の福地源一郎に認められ,社説の執筆者(筆名・笹波萍二)に登用された。8年,福地の紹介で伊藤博文の知遇を得,官界に転じた。11年,英国公使館付となり渡英,ケンブリッジ大学在学中に日本の古典『源氏物語』を英訳,出版した(1882)。19年帰国。内務省参事官を経て県治局長。演劇改良会を組織し天覧劇を演出。英国女流作家バーサ・クレイの小説を翻訳して,『谷間の姫百合』を出版した。門司築港株式会社の創立に,企救郡長津田維寧(水哉園の同門)の要請で,財界のドン渋沢栄一を口説き,中央財界から多額の資金を導入した。22年伊藤博文の次女生子と結婚。第1回総選挙に福岡県から出馬し連続3期当選した。法制局長官,貴族院議員を務め,逓信大臣,内務大臣を歴任。日露戦争(1904～05)中は英国に駐在し戦時外交に尽くした。帰国後,枢密顧問官。子爵。帝国学士院会員に挙げられた。30年,毛利家歴史編輯所総裁を委嘱され,23年後に『修訂・防長回天史』12巻を脱稿した。末松は再版緒言の中で「本書防長ノ二字ヲ冠スト雖モ,実ハ維新全史ト異ナラズ。読者ノ幸ニ此見地ヨリ観察センコトヲ切望ス」と書いている。<参考文献>末松春彦編『青萍集』

(玉江彦太郎)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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