Tani Tateki

Japanese: 谷干城 - たに・たてき

Year of death: May 13, 1911 (Meiji 44)
Year of birth: Tempo 8.2.12 (1837.3.18)
He was an army officer and politician in the Meiji period. He was the son of Tani Manshichi, a samurai of the Tosa (Kochi) clan. He was from a family of famous Shintoists and nationalists in Tosa. In 1859 (Ansei 6), he studied at Yasui Sokken's Sankeijuku in Edo for two years. He returned home and became an assistant professor of history at Bunbukan. Inspired by the Sakuradamon Incident (1860) and inspired by Takechi Zuizan, he joined the Sonno Joi movement. In 1865 (Keio 1), he was ordered by the clan to inspect Nagasaki and Shanghai, and the following year he met with Saigo Takamori and others and joined the secret alliance to overthrow the Satsuma-Tosa shogunate. During the Boshin War, he fought in the Tohoku region as a military inspector. He was appointed to the Ministry of War in 1871 (Meiji 4), and served as commander-in-chief of the Kumamoto garrison from 1873 to 1875. He assisted Saigo Tsunemichi as a Taiwan aborigines affairs officer in the Taiwan aborigines affairs committee when troops were dispatched to Taiwan to put down the Saga Rebellion in 1874. After the Shinpuren Rebellion in 1876, he was reappointed commander-in-chief of the Kumamoto garrison, and during the Seinan War (1877), he held out for two months, enduring attacks from the Satsuma army and defending Kumamoto Castle to the death. In 1882, he became a lieutenant general and head of the Eastern Military Inspection Department, and then served as president of the Army Academy and Toyama School, and head of the Central Military Inspection Department. In 1883, he submitted his resignation over the issue of the relocation of the Nagasaki Cemetery, but Emperor Meiji did not accept it. In the same year, when the scandal over the transfer of Hokkaido Colonization Office property occurred, he, along with Torio Koyata, Miura Goro, and Soga Yujun, petitioned for a reconsideration of the transfer and the opening of a constitutional founding assembly, criticizing the Satsuma-Choshu tyranny and strengthening his position as an anti-mainstream faction in the army. At this time, he formed the Chuseito Party with Sasaki Takayuki and others. In 1884, he became president of Gakushuin. In 1813, he became Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the first Ito Hirobumi Cabinet, and in 1814-1820, he inspected Europe. Immediately after returning to Japan, he drafted the "Measures to Remedy the Current Problems" and harshly criticized the government's partiality and superficial Europeanization policy. He also opposed the treaty revisions being implemented by Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru at the time, and resigned from his position as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. The Emperor requested that he be appointed as an official advisor to Gakushuin and a Privy Councillor, but he firmly refused. He also presided over the newspaper "Nippon" (president Rikumitsu), advocated "Japanese nationalism", and attempted to unite the opposition faction of national power. In August 1822, he formed the Japan Club with Sugiura Jugo, Miura and others to oppose the treaty revisions being implemented by Foreign Minister Okuma Shigenobu, and was transferred to the reserves for participating in a private rally against the treaty revisions. After the opening of the Diet (1890), he built a powerful anti-government force as a member of the House of Peers and a leader of the Konwakai (Conversational Society). He warned against excessive territorial demands after the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), opposed the land tax increase in 1831, and also opposed the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.

(Masanobu Taura)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治44.5.13(1911)
生年：天保8.2.12(1837.3.18)
明治期の陸軍軍人,政治家。土佐(高知)藩士谷万七の子。家系は土佐の著名な神道家で国粋派。安政6(1859)年江戸で2年間安井息軒の三計塾に学ぶ。帰郷して文武館の史学助教。桜田門外の変(1860)に触発され,また武市瑞山に啓発を受け尊王攘夷運動に参加。慶応1(1865)年藩命で長崎,上海視察,翌年西郷隆盛らと会談し薩土討幕密盟に加わった。戊辰戦争では大軍監として東北に転戦。明治4(1871)年兵部省に登用され,6～8年熊本鎮台司令長官。7年佐賀の乱の鎮定に当たり,台湾出兵の際は台湾蕃地事務参軍として西郷従道を補佐した。9年神風連の乱後熊本鎮台司令長官に再任,西南戦争(1877)で籠城2カ月,薩軍の攻撃に耐え熊本城を死守した。11年中将,東部監軍部長,その後陸軍士官学校長兼戸山学校長,中部監軍部長を歴任,14年長崎墓地移転問題で辞表を提出したが明治天皇は許さなかった。同年開拓使官有物払下げ事件が起こると,鳥尾小弥太,三浦梧楼,曾我祐準らと払下げの再議,国憲創立議会の開設を建白,薩長専制を批判するとともに陸軍反主流派としての立場を強めた。このとき佐々木高行らと中正党を結成。17年学習院院長となる。18年第1次伊藤博文内閣の農商務大臣となって,19～20年に欧州視察をし,帰国後すぐに「時弊救匡策」を草して政府の情実,皮相な欧化政策をはげしく批判し,折から進行中の外相井上馨による条約改正にも反対して,農商務大臣を辞職。天皇は学習院御用掛,枢密顧問官などへの就任を希望したが,固辞した。また新聞『日本』(社長陸実)を主宰して「日本主義」を提唱,在野国権派の結集をはかろうとした。22年8月杉浦重剛,三浦らと日本倶楽部を結成して外相大隈重信による条約改正に反対,このとき民間の反対集会に参加したため予備役に編入された。議会開設(1890)以降は貴族院議員,懇話会のリーダーとして有力な反政府勢力を築いた。日清戦争(1894～95)後の過大な領土的要求を戒めたり,31年地租増徴問題で反対し,日露開戦にも反対した。<参考文献>平尾道雄『子爵谷干城』,島内登志衛編『谷干城遺稿』

(田浦雅徳)

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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