Everything about Kido Takayoshi totally explained
, also referred as
Kido Kōin was a
Japanese statesman during the
Late Tokugawa shogunate and the
Meiji Restoration. He used the alias
Niibori Matsusuke (新堀松輔) when he worked against the
shogun.
Early life
Kido was born in
Hagi, in
Chōshū Domain (present-day
Yamaguchi prefecture) as the second son of Wada Masakage (和田昌景), the domain doctor. He was adopted into the Katsura family at age seven, and until 1865 was known as
Katsura Kogorō (桂小五郎). He was educated at the academy of
Yoshida Shōin, from whom he adopted the philosophy of Imperial loyalism.
In 1852, he went to
Edo to study swordsmanship, established ties with radical
samurai from
Mito domain, learned artillery techniques with
Egawa Tarōzaemon, and (after observing the construction of foreign ships in
Nagasaki and
Shimoda), returned to Chōshū to supervise the construction of the domain's first western-style warship.
Overthrow of the Tokugawa
After 1858, Kido was based at the domain's Edo residence, where he served as liaison between the domain bureaucracy and radical elements among the young, lower-echelon Chōshū
samurai who supported the
Sonnō jōi movement. Coming under suspicion by the Shogunate for his ties with Mito loyalists after the attempted assassination of
Andō Nobumasa, he was transferred to
Kyōto. However, while in Kyōto, he was unable to prevent the
30 September 1863 coup d'etat by the forces of the
Aizu and Satsuma domains, who drove the Chōshū forces out of the city. He was involved in the unsuccessful attempt by Chōshū to regain control of the city on
20 August 1864, and forced into hiding with a
geisha by the name of Ikumatsu, who later became his wife.
After radical elements under
Takasugi Shinsaku gained control of Chōshū politics, Kido was instrumental in establishing the
Satchō Alliance which proved to be critical in the
Boshin War and the subsequent
Meiji Restoration.
Meiji statesman
Following the overthrow of the
Tokugawa bakufu, Kido claimed a large role in the establishment of the new
Meiji government. As a sangi (Imperial Councilor) he helped draft the
Five Charter Oath, and initiated policies of centralization and modernization. He helped direct the
Abolition of the han system.
In 1871, he accompanied the
Iwakura Mission on its round-the-world voyage to the
United States and Europe, and was especially interested in western educational systems and politics. On his return to Japan, he became a strong advocate of the establishment of
constitutional government. Realizing that Japan wasn't in any position to challenge the western powers in its present state, he also returned to Japan just in time to prevent an invasion of
Korea (
Seikanron).
Kido lost his dominant position in the
Meiji oligarchy to
Ōkubo Toshimichi, and resigned from government in protest of the
Taiwan Expedition of 1874, which he'd strenuously opposed.
Following the
Ōsaka Conference of 1875, Kido agreed to return to the government, and became chairman of the
Assembly of Prefectural Governors that the Ōsaka Conference had created. He was also responsible for the education of the young
Emperor Meiji.
During the middle of
Satsuma Rebellion of
1877, he died of brain disease. He was only 43 years old.
Legacy
Kido’s diary reveals an intense internal conflict between his loyalty to his home domain, Chōshū, and the greater interest of the country. He wrote often of having to fight rumors at home that he'd betrayed his old friends; the idea of a nation was still relatively new in Japan and so the majority of samurai cared more for securing privileges for their own domain.
Together with
Saigō Takamori and
Ōkubo Toshimichi, he's counted among what was known as the Ishin-no-Sanketsu (維新の三傑), which means, roughly, "
three great nobles of the restoration". His younger sister's grandson was
Tokyo politician
Kōichi Kido (木戸幸一).
Reference and further reading
- Akamatsu, Paul. Meiji 1868: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Japan. Trans. Miriam Kochan. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
Beasley, W. G. The Meiji Restoration. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972.
Beasley, W. G. The Rise of Modern Japan: Political, Economic and Social Change Since 1850. St. Martin's Press, New York 1995.
Craig, Albert M. Chōshū in the Meiji Restoration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961.
Jansen, Marius B. and Gilbert Rozman, eds. Japan in Transition: From Tokugawa to Meiji. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.Further Information
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