was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and political theorist who was active during the

Meiji period The was 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 colonizatio ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Early life

Inagaki was born in

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

, as the son of a ''

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

'' of the

Hirado Domain 270px, Matsura Akira, final daimyo of Hirado Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was centered around Hirado Castle in what is now the city of Hirado, Nagasaki and was ruled by the ''tozama daimyō'' Matsura clan for all of it ...

. As a young man he was a warder of the

Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a ...

men imprisoned in

after the unsuccessful

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the , was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government of the Empire of Japan, nine years into the Meiji era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in ...

and gained their respect and affection. After studying at the clan-established ''Ishinkan'' and ''Kagoshima Shigakko'' (private school), he entered the Department of Literature of the

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

in 1882. Sent down from Tokyo University with many others after the Incident of 1883, when the student body rebelled and boycotted the graduation ceremonies because the time of the ceremony was changed, he never returned, unlike most of the others. Instead, Inagaki went to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

from January 1888 to December 1890 and studied at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

. He also founded the Japanese Club at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

to study the ways of English

gentlemen ''Gentleman'' (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man; abbreviated ''gent.'') is a term for a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire ...

. He also studied

classical literature Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

and is the first Japanese known to have learned

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

. He became a very popular figure at the University, especially with the Master of Pembroke College and the Vice-Chancellor, the Reverend Dr.

Charles Edward Searle Charles Edward Searle (18 June 1828 in Hackney – 29 July 1902 in Cambridge) was an English clergyman and academic, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge from 1880 until his death in 1902. Biography Charles Edward Searle was the seventh son of ...

Later life

After graduating Inagaki returned to Japan, and became a temporary professor at Gakushuin Higher Commercial School. He entered the

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

and became Japan's first deputy Minister Resident to the Kingdom of Siam on March 31, 1897. He was appointed Minister

Plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of a sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word can als ...

on 19 November 1899 and envoy extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in 1903. He continued in that role until July 1907, when he was transferred to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, where he died of illness in 1908. Inagaki wrote a number of scholarly books in English and Japanese on international affairs but died relatively young with his potential unfulfilled. His writings urging

Japanese expansionism was the ideology in the Empire of Japan which advocated the belief that militarism should dominate the political and social life of the nation, and the belief that the strength of the military is equal to the strength of a nation. It was most ...

into the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

were part of the theoretical basis of the Southern Expansion Doctrine of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

and certain factions in the government in the early 20th century.

Writings

English

* ''Japan and the Pacific and the Japanese View of the Eastern Question'', 1890 (London: T. Fisher Unwin) - dedicated to

John Robert Seeley Sir John Robert Seeley, Order of St. Michael and St. George, KCMG (10 September 1834 – 13 January 1895) was an English Liberal Party (UK), Liberal historian and political essayist. A founder of British imperial history, he was a prominent adv ...

who taught Inagaki at

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges an ...

Japanese

* ''Tohosaku'' (Policy for the East) (1891). * ''Shiberia tetsudoron'' (On the Siberian railways) (1891). * ''Kizokuron'' (On the nobility) (1891, 1893, 1894) * ''Kyoiku no Omoto'' (Great Fount of Education) (1894) * ''Nanyo Chosei dan'' (Expedition to the South seas) (1893) * ''Gaiko to Gaisei'' (Diplomacy and Foreign Campaigns) (1896)

References

External links

* *
Japanese Students at Cambridge University in the Meiji Era, 1868-1912: Pioneers for the Modernization of Japan
', by Noboru Koyama, translated by Ian Ruxton, (Lulu Press, September 2004, )

on the website of the National Diet Library of Japan {{DEFAULTSORT:Inagaki, Manjiro 1861 births 1908 deaths People from Nagasaki Prefecture Ambassadors of Japan to Spain Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom English-language writers from Japan Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Japanese diplomats University of Tokyo alumni People of the Meiji era