Fukuoka Takachika
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Fukuoka Takachika (福岡孝弟?) (5 February 1835– 7 March 1919) was a Japanese statesman of the Meiji period.
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[edit] Early life
Fukuoka was born in Tosa District in present-day Kochi Prefecture, and served the Yamauchi daimyo of Tosa as a domain official. Together with fellow Tosa samurai Goto Shojiro, he went to Kyoto in 1867 to convince Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to return power peacefully to the Emperor, thus bringing about the Meiji Restoration.
[edit] Meiji statesman
After the Meiji Restoration, while serving as a san'yo (senior councillor), he helped draft the text of the Charter Oath which set the tone and direction for the new Meiji government. In the new government, he concurrently served in a variety of offices, including Political system Affairs Officer and Parliament System Examination Officer. It was in this capacity that he was afterwards, asked to help draft the Seitaisho, which setup the organizational structure of the early Meiji government.
In 1870, he was transferred back to Kochi and focused on the reforms of domain's administration, just prior to the abolition of the han system.
In 1872, he re-entered the central government as Taifu (Senior Vice Minister) of Education and of Justice, but resigned in 1873 due to his opposition to the government policy with regards to the Seikanron debate on the invasion of Korea
In 1880, he returned to the government as a member of the Genroin and later served as Minister of Education, Sangi (Councillor), chairman of the Sanjiin (legislative advisory council).
He also served as and as a Privy Councilor. In 1884, he was elevated to the rank of shishaku (viscount).
[edit] Further reading
- Beasley, W. G. The Rise of Modern Japan: Political, Economic and Social Change Since 1850. St. Martin's Press, New York 1995.
- Jansen, Marius B. and Gilbert Rozman, eds. Japan in Transition: From Tokugawa to Meiji. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
- Keane, Donald. Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912. Columbia University Press (2005). ISBN: 0231123418
- Koyama, Noboru. Japanese Students at Cambridge University in the Meiji Era, 1868-1912: Pioneers for the Modernization of Japan. Lulu.com (2004). ISBN: 1411612566
- Totten, George O. (compiled by). Democracy in Prewar Japan: Groundwork or Facade?. D.C. Heath and Company, Boston (1966).
