Sugita Teiichi

Japanese: 杉田定一 - すぎた・ていいち

Year of death: March 23, 1929 (Showa 4)
Year of birth: 1851.6.30
A political party politician of the Meiji and Taisho periods. He was the son of Sugita Senjuro and Takashi, wealthy farmers from Namiyori Village, Sakai County, Echizen Province (Fukui City). His pen name was Uzurayama. In 1875 (Meiji 8), he moved to Tokyo with the aim of becoming a politician, and began working as a reporter for the Saifu Shimbun newspaper. He was involved in anti-government media outlets of the time, such as Chugai Hyoron and Somanji Jijo, and was imprisoned twice for his writings. After the Seinan War (1877), he devoted himself to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, centered around Itagaki Taisuke, and established the Minken Seisha (Civil Rights Society) in his hometown of Namiyori, and worked hard on the petition movement for the opening of the National Diet, and in November 1880, he managed to collect 7,041 signatures in Echizen calling for the establishment of a National Diet. On the other hand, he was the leader of the anti-land tax reform movement that was carried out in the seven counties of Echizen at the time, and won a reduction in tax, and a monument commemorating Sugita's tax reduction movement still remains on Asuwayama in Fukui City today. He also published Keisei Shinron during this period, and was imprisoned three times for his writings. In 1882, he founded the South Vietnam Liberal Party, published its organ newspaper, the Hokuriku Free Newspaper, and became the base of political movements in Echizen. He was then elected to the House of Representatives in the first general election, and continued to be elected every year until the end of the Meiji era, except for the fourth election. He was a member of the Liberal Party, the Constitutional Party, and the Rikken Seiyukai Party, and during that time he served as the Governor of Hokkaido in 1896, Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1904, and Secretary-General of the Seiyukai Party in 1906. He was a leading figure in the party until he was elected to the House of Peers by imperial decree in 1912. He also worked hard to develop the silk weaving industry in his hometown of Fukui Prefecture, repair work on the Kuzuryu River, and the construction of the Mikuni Railway, and reigned as an elder of local politics from the Taisho era to the early Showa era. His poem, titled "Self-report," which he wrote to celebrate his 60th birthday, "Sixty years of northern horses and southern ships/Many changes in human nature and the world/Planning to produce white-headed children and grandchildren/Selling my house and two fields" (at a time, one hundred acres of land) well illustrates his true talent. He was a typical example of the so-called well-walled politician. <References> Hiroaki Saika, "Mr. Sugita Uzuyama," "Documents related to Sugita Sadakazu" (Osaka University of Economics Library), Kei Ikeuchi, "Mr. Sugita Sadakazu"

(Kei Ikeuchi)

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

Japanese:

没年：昭和4.3.23(1929)
生年：嘉永4.6.2(1851.6.30)
明治大正期の政党政治家。越前国坂井郡波寄村(福井市)の豪農杉田仙十郎,隆の子。号は鶉山。明治8(1875)年政治家を志し上京,『采風新聞』の記者として活動を始め,『中外評論』『草莽事情』など当時の反政府的言論機関に関係,筆禍を受け2度の入獄を経験した。西南戦争(1877)後は板垣退助を中心とした自由民権運動に奔走,郷里波寄に民権政社(自郷社)を作り,国会開設請願運動に尽力,13年11月には越前において7041名の国会願望署名人を集め得た。一方当時越前7郡に展開された地租改正反対運動の指導者として減租を獲得し,現在も福井市の足羽山に杉田氏減租運動紀功碑が残っている。またこの時期に『経世新論』を出版,三度筆禍を受け入獄した。15年には南越自由党を結成,機関紙『北陸自由新聞』を刊行,越前における政治運動の拠点となった。次いで第1回衆院議員選挙に当選,以後第4回を除いて明治の終わりまで連続当選を続け,自由党,憲政党,立憲政友会に所属,その間31年北海道庁長官,39年衆議院議長,41年政友会幹事長を歴任,45年貴族院議員に勅選されるまで党の第一線の重鎮として活動した。また地元福井県における絹織物業の発展,九頭竜川の改修工事,三国鉄道の敷設などに尽力し,地方政界の長老として大正から昭和初頭まで君臨した。彼が還暦を迎え作詩した「自述」と題する「北馬南船六十年/人情世態幾変遷/白頭未作児孫計/売却家山二頃田」(頃は百畝)という詩はよく彼の本領を物語っていよう。世にいう井戸塀政治家の典型であった。<参考文献>雑賀博愛『杉田鶉山翁』,「杉田定一関係文書」(大阪経済大学図書館),池内啓『杉田定一翁』

(池内啓)

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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