Yamashiroya Incident

The Yamashiroya Wasuke embezzlement scandal of the Ministry of the Army occurred in 1872 (Meiji 5). Yamashiroya Wasuke (real name Nomura Michizo), a Yokohama trader who was the commander of the Kiheitai (Chōshū clan's Kiheitai), became a government merchant under his fellow countryman Yamagata Aritomo, engaged in raw silk trading, and accumulated a huge fortune by visiting various ministries. However, he failed in the raw silk market and received an illegal loan of over 600,000 yen of the Ministry of the Army's public funds, which he used to travel overseas in December 1871. However, suspicion arose as he spent lavishly in Paris, and he returned to Japan after receiving a telegram from Army Minister Yamagata Aritomo, but was unable to repay the loan and committed suicide in the Ministry of the Army's instructor's office on November 29, 1872. Although all related documents had been burned, suspicions against Yamagata remained strong, and the criticism did not subside even after the severe censure by Minister of Justice Eto Shinpei, coupled with the Mitani Sankuro Incident that occurred in April 1873, and Yamagata finally resigned from his position as Minister of the Army in April of the same year to take responsibility. This was a corruption scandal that reflected the corruption of the military in the early Meiji period.

[Kato Kozaburo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1872年（明治5）に起きた山城屋和助(わすけ)の陸軍省公金費消事件。長州藩の奇兵隊隊長であった横浜の貿易商山城屋和助（本名野村三千三(みちぞう)）は、同郷の山県有朋(やまがたありとも)の下で御用商人となり、生糸貿易を営み、諸省に出入りして巨富を蓄えた。ところが生糸相場で失敗、陸軍省公金60万円余の不正融資を受け、1871年12月にその金で洋行した。しかしパリで豪遊していたことから疑惑がもたれたため、陸軍大輔(たいふ)山県有朋の電報で帰国したが、返済不能のため1872年11月29日陸軍省の教官詰所で自殺した。関係書類はいっさい焼却済みであったが、山県への疑惑は強く、1873年4月に起きた三谷三九郎(みたにさんくろう)事件とも相まった司法卿(しほうきょう)江藤新平の厳しい糾明もあって非難が収まらず、同年4月、ついに山県は陸軍大輔をも辞任して責任をとった。明治初年の軍部の腐敗ぶりを反映した汚職事件である。

［加藤幸三郎］

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