Kaoru Inoue

Japanese: 井上馨 - いのうえ・かおる

Year of death: September 1, 1915
Year of birth: Tempo 6.11.28 (1836.1.16)
A politician of the Meiji and Taisho periods. His pen name was Segai. He was the second son of Inoue Mitsuyoshi, a retainer of the Hagi (Choshu) domain. In 1855, he was adopted by Shido Shinpei, a retainer of the same domain, and accompanied him on his alternate attendance tour to Edo, where he studied Dutch studies and artillery. In 1860, he became a page and was given the name Monda by the domain lord. In 1862, he was active as a radical anti-foreigner faction, attacking the British Embassy with Takasugi Shinsaku and Ito Hirobumi. In 1863, he traveled to Britain with Ito and others, and realized the need to open the country to the world. The following year, in 1864, he hurriedly returned to Japan upon hearing news of the Hagi domain's bombardment of foreign ships, and worked hard to mediate between the British envoy to the domain, Parkes, and the domain authorities. In response to the shogunate's Choshu expedition, he advocated military obedience and a policy of preserving power. In 1866, as the commander of the Kojo-tai, he participated in the clan government coup d'état by Takasugi Shinsaku and the Kiheitai. He stayed in Nagasaki to purchase weapons and foreign ships in order to support the Satsuma-Choshu alliance's plan to overthrow the shogunate. With the establishment of the Meiji Restoration government, he served as a councilor, foreign affairs officer, staff officer of the Satsuma Governor-General of Kyushu, staff officer of the Nagasaki Court, judge of the Foreign Affairs Bureau, judge of the Nagasaki Prefectural Government and judge of the Foreign Affairs Office, and official in charge of repairing weapons in the Nagasaki Prefectural Government, before moving to the Ministry of Finance in 1869 to become head of the mint. He served as both Minister of Civil Affairs and Minister of Finance, and Grand Counsellor of Osaka Prefecture, and made efforts to advance the minting business. He later served as Junior Vice-Minister of Civil Affairs and Minister of Civil Affairs, and in 1871, he became Minister of Finance, where he worked to establish central finances and to establish banks and companies after the abolition of the clans and the establishment of prefectures. However, there was strong opposition to the growing influence of the Ministry of Finance and the Inoue Group, and he was investigated for the Osarizawa Copper Mine private ownership incident, and resigned in May 1873. He then became involved in business, such as founding Senshu Company (later Mitsui & Co.), but in 1885 he became a councilor when the Senate was established, and in 1886 he witnessed the signing of the Treaty of Amity between Japan and Korea as the deputy envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary for the settlement of the Ganghwa Island incident, after which he went on a business trip to Europe. He returned to Japan in July 1887 and became councilor and minister of public works. In 1888 he became minister of foreign affairs (later Minister of Foreign Affairs). For the next eight years, the main diplomatic issues were treaty revision and issues with Korea and China. There was also a policy of Europeanization related to the work of treaty revision. In the treaty revision, he abandoned the previous method of individual negotiations and adopted the method of an inter-state conference, and tried to prioritize the restoration of legal authority. In foreign affairs such as the Imo Incident (1882), the Gapsin Coup (1884), and the Sino-Buddhist Coup (1884-85), he did not adopt a post-Asianism policy, but rather an Asianist policy that included a Japan-China alliance. In 1820, when the negotiations for treaty revision began in earnest, strong opposition erupted, so he called off the negotiations and resigned as Minister of Foreign Affairs. After briefly serving as an Imperial Court Advisor, he became Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in 1896, but resigned when the Yamagata Aritomo Cabinet was formed. He served as Minister of the Interior in the second Ito Cabinet (the "Cabinet of All Genshonin"). In October 1892, he volunteered to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Korea and embarked on "domestic reform in Korea," but resigned the following year in 1893, dissatisfied with conflicts with Ito, Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu, and others over loan policy, as well as Russia's advance into Korea. He became Minister of Finance in the third Ito Cabinet and attempted to increase land taxes, but failed. There was talk of him succeeding Prime Minister in the fourth Ito Cabinet, but Katsura Taro became Prime Minister, and an era began in which the second generation of clan factions were in charge of the cabinet. In 1897, he was made a marquis. He continued to hold the status of a Genshonin in both political and financial circles. He mediated disputes among the Genro class over policies against political parties after the opening of the Diet, and played a major role in uniting the clan faction groups and prolonging their influence. <References> “Sekai Inoue Koden” all 5 volumes (reprint, 1968)

(Masatoshi Sakata)

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

Japanese:

没年：大正4.9.1(1915)
生年：天保6.11.28(1836.1.16)
明治大正期の政治家。号は世外。萩(長州)藩士井上光享の次男。安政2(1855)年同藩士志道慎平の養嗣子となり,参勤交代に随行して江戸に出て,蘭学,砲術を学ぶ。万延1(1860)年小姓役となり藩主より聞多の名を賜る。文久2(1862)年高杉晋作,伊藤博文らと英国公使館を襲撃するなど攘夷急進派として活動。3年伊藤らと英国に渡航,開国の必要を悟った。翌元治1(1864)年萩藩の外国船砲撃の報を聞き急遽帰国,英国公使パークスと藩当局の調停に奔走した。幕府の長州征討に対しては武備恭順,勢力温存策を唱えた。慶応2(1866)年高杉晋作ら奇兵隊の藩政クーデタに鴻城隊長として参加。薩長連合による討幕策のため長崎に滞在し武器,外国船の購入などに携わった。維新政権の成立にともない参与職,外国事務掛,九州薩摩総督参謀,長崎裁判所参謀,外国事務局判事,長崎府判事兼外国官判事,長崎府武器修理御用掛などを務めたのち,明治2(1869)年大蔵省に移り造幣頭。民部大丞兼大蔵大丞,大阪府大参事心得を兼ね,造幣事業の進展に努力した。その後民部少輔,民部大輔を経て4年大蔵大輔となり,廃藩置県後の中央財政の確立,銀行,会社の創設に努めた。しかし大蔵省と井上グループの勢力増大に対する反発も強く,尾去沢銅山私有事件を追及され,6年5月辞職。その後,先収会社(のちの三井物産)の設立など実業にかかわったが,8年元老院成立で議官となり,9年江華島事件処理の特命全権副使として日朝修好条規の調印に立ち合ったのち,欧州出張。11年7月帰国して参議兼工部卿。12年外務卿(のち外務大臣)。このあとの8年間は,条約改正と対朝鮮および中国問題が主な外交問題であった。また条約改正作業と関連した欧化政策がある。条約改正では以前の個別交渉方式を捨て列国会議方式をとり,法権回復を優先させようとした。壬午事変(1882),甲申事変(1884),清仏事変(1884～85)などの対外問題では脱亜主義ではなく日清提携をふくむアジア主義的な策をとった。20年本格化した条約改正交渉に強い反対が噴出したため,交渉を中止し外務大臣を辞任した。一時宮中顧問官に就いたのち,21年農商務大臣となるが,山県有朋内閣成立とともに辞職。第2次伊藤内閣(「元勲総出内閣」)で内務大臣。27年10月,朝鮮駐在特命全権大使を自ら望んで引き受け「朝鮮内政改革」に乗り出したが,借款政策をめぐる伊藤,陸奥宗光外相などとの対立,ロシアの朝鮮進出もあって不満のうちに翌28年辞任した。第3次伊藤内閣の大蔵大臣となり地租増徴をねらったが失敗。第4次伊藤内閣の後継首相の説もあったが桂太郎が首相となり,藩閥第2世代が内閣を担当する時代に移った。40年侯爵。その後も政界および財界の元勲の地位を保持した。議会開設後の対政党策をめぐる元老層の紛争を調停し,藩閥グループの結束と影響力の延命をはかるのに大きな役割を果たした。<参考文献>『世外井上公伝』全5巻(復刻,1968)

(酒田正敏)

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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