Tokai Sanshi - Tokai Sanshi

Politician, novelist, and newspaper reporter. His real name was Shiba Shiro. He was born in Awa Province (Chiba Prefecture). He was originally a samurai of the Aizu clan. His younger brother was General Shiba Goro (1859-1945). In 1868 (Meiji 1), Aizu Castle fell to the government forces, and his family suffered a tragic fate. In 1879, he went to the United States, where he studied economics at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, and returned to Japan in 1885. In the same year, he published a full-length novel, Kajin no Kiguu (A Strange Encounter with a Beautiful Woman), and published eight stories in total, which continued until 1897. The novels were well received as grand political novels, and the author's passion overflows between the lines. After serving as editor-in-chief of the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun in 1888, he was elected in the general election of 1892, and was active in politics thereafter, but his desire to expand Japan's power in Asia was his greatest desire. In 1898, he was appointed Vice Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the cabinet of Okuma Shigenobu and Itagaki Taisuke, and in 1915 (Taisho 4), he was appointed Counsellor for Foreign Affairs. He died of an illness on September 25, 1922, at his mountain villa in Atami.

[Yasushi Oka]

"Complete Collection of Modern Japanese Literature 3: Political Novels" (1965, Kodansha) " Toshio Onuma and Nobuaki Nakamaru's annotated New Japanese Classical Literature Series: Meiji Edition 17: Political Novels 2" (2006, Iwanami Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

政治家、小説家、新聞記者。本名柴四朗(しばしろう)。安房(あわ)国（千葉県）生まれ。もと会津藩士の出。弟に陸軍大将柴五郎（1859―1945）がいる。1868年（明治1）官軍により会津落城、一家悲運にあう。1879年渡米、ハーバード大学、ペンシルベニア大学などで経済学を学び、1885年帰朝。同年以降、長編小説『佳人之奇遇(かじんのきぐう)』を刊行、8編まで出し、1897年まで及んだ。規模雄大な政治小説として好評を博し、作者の熱情が行間にあふれている。1888年『大阪毎日新聞』主筆などを経て、1892年の総選挙に当選、以後政界に活躍したが、終始アジアでの国権伸張を念願とした。1898年大隈重信(おおくましげのぶ)・板垣退助(いたがきたいすけ)内閣の農商務次官、1915年（大正4）には外務参政官に就任した。大正11年9月25日、熱海(あたみ)の山荘で病没した。

［岡　保生］

『『日本現代文学全集3　政治小説集』（1965・講談社）』▽『大沼敏男・中丸宣明校注『新日本古典文学大系明治編17　政治小説集2』（2006・岩波書店）』

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