Ōura Kanetake

Ōura Kanetake 大浦兼武
Ōura in 1898
Born	(1850-06-15)June 15, 1850 Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain, Japan
Died	September 30, 1918(1918-09-30) (aged 68)
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	politician, cabinet minister
Known for	"Ōura scandal"

Ōura Kanetake in 1915

Ōura Kanetake (大浦 兼武, June 15, 1850 – September 30, 1918) was a politician and bureaucrat in late Meiji and early Taishō period Empire of Japan. In 1907, he was raised to the rank and title of danshaku (baron) under the kazoku peerage system.^[1]

Early life

The Ōura family was hereditary retainers to a branch of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Domain. As a Satsuma samurai, Ōura Kanetaka participated in the Boshin War and the suppression of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei during the Meiji Restoration. Under the new Meiji government, he joined the fledgling Japanese police force, working his way up through the ranks until he became Assistant Police Inspector of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. In this capacity, he was field commander of the police forces sent to assist the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army in suppressing his fellow Satsuma countrymen in the Satsuma Rebellion.

Political career

After serving as appointed governor of Shimane Prefecture (1893–1895), Yamaguchi Prefecture (1895–1896), Kumamoto Prefecture (1896–1898) and Miyazaki Prefecture (1898), Ōura was appointed Superintendent General of the Police, and was given a seat in the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan. In 1903, under the 1st Katsura administration, he became Minister of Communications. He then served as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce under the 2nd Katsura cabinet and was also chairman of the Japanese committee organizing the Japan–British Exhibition.^[2] He subsequently served as Home Minister under the 3rd Katsura cabinet and as both Minister of Agriculture and Trade and Home Minister under the 2nd Ōkuma administration.

Ōura scandal

While in the Ōkuma administration, he was accused of perpetrating voting fraud in the Diet by bribing minor political party and undecided members to influence passage of a military spending bill introduced by Ōkuma. This incident came to be known as the Ōura scandal; he was forced to retire, and eventually the Ōkuma administration itself was brought down.

The word "peace" and the signature of the calligrapher, Ōura Kanetake, 1910

Later life

In his final years, Ōura served as chairman of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai.

Ōura died in 1918 at the age of 68.

Notes

References

• Idditti, Smimasa. Life of Marquis Shigenobu Okuma: A Maker of New Japan. Kegan Paul International Ltd. (2006). ISBN 0-7103-1186-9
• Idditti, Junesay. Marquis Shigenobu Okuma - A Biographical Study in the Rise of Democratic Japan. Hokuseido Press (1956). ASIN: B000IPQ4VQ
• Lebra-Chapman, Joyce. Okuma Shigenobu: statesman of Meiji Japan. Australian National University Press (1973). ISBN 0-7081-0400-2
• Mochizuki, Kotarō. (1910) Japan To-day. A Souvenir of the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition held in London, 1910. Tokyo: Liberal News Agency. OCLC 5327867
• Oka Yoshitake, et al. Five Political Leaders of Modern Japan: Ito Hirobumi, Okuma Shigenobu, Hara Takashi, Inukai Tsuyoshi, and Saionji Kimmochi. University of Tokyo Press (1984). ISBN 0-86008-379-9
• Sims, Richard (2001). Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23915-7.