Eto Shimpei
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eto Shimpei (江藤新平 Etō Shinpei?); 18 March 1834 - 13 April 1874), was a Japanese statesman during the early Meiji period, remembered chiefly for his role in the unsuccessful Saga Rebellion.
[edit] Early Life & Meiji Bureaucrat
Eto was born into a samurai family in Saga, in Hizen province (present-day Saga prefecture). During the Boshin War to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, he served as a general in the imperial army.
After the Meiji Restoration, he was appointed to a number of posts, including that of Minister of Justice in 1872, and was responsible for drafting Japan's first modern penal code the (Kaitei Ritsurei). In 1873, he became a sangi (Councilor) in the Daijō-kan, but resigned the same year, after the Seikanron proposal made by Saigo Takamori to invade Korea was rejected.
[edit] Anti-government agitator & rebel
After resigning from the government, Eto returned home to his native Saga, and gathered together a group of dissaffected former samurai who were unhappy with the current regime. He formed the Aikoku Koto political party which criticized the government and called for the formation of a national assembly. Receiving little support, he then resorted to armed insurrection (the Saga Rebellion), gathering some 3000 followers, attacking a local bank for funds, and capturing government offices. The revolt was quickly suppressed by government forces under Okubo Toshimichi, and Eto, along with 13 other ringleaders, were executed.
[edit] Reference and further reading
- Duus, Peter. The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910 (Twentieth-Century Japan - the Emergence of a World Power, 4). University of California Press (1998). ISBN 0-520-21361-0.
- Hane, Mikiso. Modern Japan: A Historical Survey. Westview Press (2001). ISBN 0-8133-3756-9
- Harries, Meirion. Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House; Reprint edition (1994). ISBN 0-679-75303-6
- Najita, Tetsuo. Japan: The Intellectual Foundations of Modern Japanese Politics. University Of Chicago Press (1980). ISBN 0-226-56803-2
