Soejima Taneomi

Japanese: 副島種臣 - そえじま・たねおみ

Year of death: January 31, 1905 (Meiji 38)
Year of birth: Bunsei 11.9.9 (1828.10.17)
A politician of the Meiji period. His father was Edakichi Tadazaemon, a samurai of the Saga domain and a professor at the domain school, Kodokan, and his mother was Kiseki. In 1859, when his father died, he was adopted by Soejima Toshitada, a samurai of the same domain. His pen name was Sokai and he was a scholar of one and the same. In 1850, he joined the Gisai Domei (the Righteous Festival Alliance) led by his brother, Edakichi Shinyo, along with Oki Takanori and Eto Shinpei, and became devoted to the idea of revering the emperor. In 1862, he traveled to Kyoto to study and interacted with the scholar of Japanese classics, Yano Gendo. During this time, he was ordered by Shinyo to submit a letter of opinion to the court noble Ohara Shigenori, and was asked by Prince Shoren-innomiya Asahiko to send the Saga domain's troops to Kyoto. After returning to the domain, the request to send the domain's troops to Kyoto was rejected by the domain's lord, Nabeshima Naomasa, and Soejima was ordered to become a teacher at the domain's school. In 1864, he went to Nagasaki to study under the American missionary Verbeck, learning English and the US Constitution. In 1867, he escaped from his domain with Okuma Shigenobu and went to Edo, where he advocated for the restoration of imperial rule to the inspector Hara Ichinoshin (a samurai of the Mito domain), but was placed under house arrest by the domain. After the Meiji Restoration, he was put in charge of foreign negotiations in Nagasaki, and was also appointed counselor and judge of the System Bureau, and together with Fukuoka Takachika, he drafted the Constitutional Law. In 1871, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. He made a great contribution to negotiations with Russia over the Sakhalin border issue, the Maria Luz incident (a diplomatic issue over the emancipation of Chinese slaves aboard a Peruvian ship), and the negotiations for the ratification of the Treaty of Amity between Japan and China, but he resigned from office in support of the Seikanron (the Korean Expedition). He later formed the Patriotic Public Party at home, and signed a petition for the establishment of a popularly elected parliament, but did not participate in the civil rights movement. From 1876 to 1878, he traveled around China, further deepening his knowledge of calligraphy. In 1882, he was made a count, and after serving as a Privy Councillor and Vice-Chairman, he became Minister of the Interior in the second Matsukata Masayoshi Cabinet, but he never exerted any significant political influence, resigning after three months in office.

(Junichi Nagai)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治38.1.31(1905)
生年：文政11.9.9(1828.10.17)
明治期の政治家。父は佐賀藩士,藩校弘道館教授枝吉忠左衛門,母は喜勢子。安政6(1859)年父が死去し,同藩士副島利忠の養子となる。号は蒼海,一々学人。嘉永3(1850)年兄の枝吉神陽を中心とする義祭同盟に大木喬任,江藤新平らと共に参加し,尊王論に傾倒。5年京都に遊学し,国学者矢野玄道らと交流。その間神陽の命を受け公家大原重徳に意見書を提出,青蓮院宮朝彦親王から佐賀藩兵上洛を求められる。帰藩後,藩兵上洛は藩主鍋島直正に退けられ,副島は藩校教諭を命じられた。元治1(1864)年長崎に行き米国人宣教師フルベッキに師事し,英学,米国憲法を学ぶ。慶応3(1867)年大隈重信と脱藩し江戸に行き,目付原市之進(水戸藩士)に大政奉還を説いたが,藩より謹慎処分を受けた。維新後長崎で対外折衝を担任,さらに参与,制度事務局判事を命じられ,福岡孝弟と共に政体書を起草した。明治4(1871)年外務卿に就任。樺太国境問題をめぐる対露交渉,マリア・ルス号事件(ペルー船積み込みの清国人奴隷解放をめぐる外交問題),日清修好条規批准交渉などに功績をあげたが,征韓論に同調して下野した。その後,自宅で愛国公党を結成し,民選議院設立建白書にも署名したが民権運動には参加しなかった。9年から11年にかけて清国を漫遊し,書道への造詣を一段と深めた。17年伯爵に叙せられ,枢密院顧問官・同副議長などを経て,第2次松方正義内閣の内務大臣となったが,在任3カ月で辞任するなど,大きな政治力を発揮することはなかった。<著作>『蒼海全集』全6巻<参考文献>丸山幹治『副島種臣伯』

(長井純市)

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