Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

was a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

during the

Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji governm ...

and early

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

of Japanese history.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Gotō Shōjirō" in He was a leader of which would evolve into a political party.

Early life

Gotō was born in Tosa Domain (present day

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 757,914 (1 December 2011) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and ...

). Together with fellow Tosa ''

Sakamoto Ryōma was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the ''Bakumatsu'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period. He was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active oppo ...

, he was attracted by the radical pro-Imperial '' Sonnō jōi'' movement. After being promoted, he essentially seized power within the Tosa Domain's politics and exerted influence on Tosa ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

Yamauchi Toyoshige Yamauchi Toyoshige , also known as , was a Japanese '' daimyō'' in the Shikoku region in the late Edo period. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Yamauchi Toyoshige"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 1045. He was usually referred to as “Lord Yōdō ...

to call on ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamak ...

'' Tokugawa Yoshinobu to return power peacefully to the Emperor.

Meiji statesman and liberal agitator

After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, Gotō was appointed to a number of posts, including that of Governor of

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, and ''sangi'' (councillor), but later left the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

in 1873 over disagreement with the government's policy of restraint toward

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

(i.e. the '' Seikanron'' debate) and, more generally, in opposition to the Chōshū- Satsuma domination of the new government. Jointly with

Itagaki Taisuke Count was a Japanese politician. He was a leader of the "Freedom and People's Rights Movement" and founded Japan's first political party, the Liberal Party. Biography Early life Itagaki Taisuke was born into a middle-ranking ''samurai'' ...

, he submitted a memorandum calling for the establishment of a popularly elected

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. In 1874, together with Itagaki Taisuke, and Etō Shinpei and Soejima Taneomi of

Hizen Province was an old province of Japan in the area of the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō. It did not incl ...

, he formed the '' Aikoku Kōtō'' (Public Party of Patriots), declaring, "We, the thirty millions of people in Japan are all equally endowed with certain definite rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring and possessing property, and obtaining a livelihood and pursuing happiness. These rights are by Nature bestowed upon all men, and, therefore, cannot be taken away by the power of any man." This anti-government stance appealed to the discontented remnants of the ''samurai'' class and the rural aristocracy (who resented centralized taxation) and peasants (who were discontented with high prices and low wages). After the

Osaka Conference of 1875 The was a meeting held by the major leaders of the Meiji Restoration in Osaka, Japan from January to February 1875 to address the issue of forming a representative assembly. The leaders present included Okubo Toshimichi, Kido Takayoshi, Itagaki Ta ...

, he returned briefly to the government, participating in the ''

Genrōin The was a national assembly in early Meiji Japan, established after the Osaka Conference of 1875. It is also referred to as the Senate of Japan, being the word used to describe the Roman Senate, and other western legislatures named after it. ...

''. He also managed a coal mine in Kyūshū (the Takashima Coal Mine), but finding it to be losing money, sold his interest to Iwasaki Yatarō. In 1881, he returned to politics, assisting Itagaki Taisuke found the Jiyūto (Liberal Party) which developed the ''daidō danketsu'' (coalition) movement in 1887.

Meiji bureaucrat

In 1889, Gotō joined the Kuroda administration as Communications Minister, remaining in that post under the first Yamagata cabinet and first Matsukata cabinet. Under the new ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ...

'' peerage system, he was elevated to ''hakushaku'' (count). In the second Itō cabinet he became Agriculture and Commerce minister. He was implicated in a scandal involving futures trading, and was forced to retire. After a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

, he retired to his summer home in

Hakone, Kanagawa is a town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 11,293 and a population density of 122 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many hot springs and views of ...

, where he died in 1896. His grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

Notes

References

* Beasley, William G. (1995). ''The Rise of Modern Japan: Political, Economic and Social Change Since 1850.'' New York: St. Martin's Press. ;
OCLC 20722016
* Hane, Mikiso. (2001). ''Modern Japan: A Historical Survey.'' Westview Press. * Hillsborough, Romulus. (2005). ''Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps''. Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing. * Jansen, Marius B. and Gilbert Rozman, eds. (1986). ''Japan in Transition: from Tokugawa to Meiji.'' Princeton:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financia ...

.
OCLC 12311985
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

.
OCLC 58053128
* Totten, George O. (1966). ''Democracy in Prewar Japan: Groundwork or Facade?''. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company.

External links

National Diet Library biography & photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goto, Shojiro 1838 births 1897 deaths Meiji Restoration Samurai People from Kōchi Prefecture People from Tosa Domain Kazoku People of Meiji-period Japan Governors of Osaka Government ministers of Japan Aikoku Kōtō politicians Liberal Party (Japan, 1881) politicians Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Politicians from Kōchi Prefecture Burials in Japan