Politicians / asian_statesman
Itō Hirobumi
Japan 1841-10-16 ~ 1909-10-26
First Prime Minister of Japan (1841-1909) and chief drafter of the Meiji Constitution. Born a peasant in Choshu, he studied under Yoshida Shoin. Four-time PM and first Resident-General of Korea, he was killed at Harbin.
What You Can Learn
Ito offers three lessons. First, unembarrassed learning. He sailed to London at 22 with one dictionary; as senior statesman he studied with Gneist and Stein to learn constitutional drafting. Second, sequenced institution design: cabinet, constitution, privy council, peerage, parliament — five institutions in five years. Third, take the rival into the tent. Ito recommended Okuma as his successor. Set against this is Korea: even a constitutionalist crossed into colonial coercion.
Words That Resonate
The spirit of constitutional government is the limitation of sovereign power and the protection of the rights of the people.
立憲政体の精神は、君権の制限と民権の保護にある。
If there is one thing in my life I can be proud of, it is that I was the first to reach Takasugi's side at that moment.
私の人生において、唯一誇れることがあるとすれば、このとき、一番に高杉さんのもとに駆けつけたことだろう。
A nation's hundred-year plan rests on education.
国家百年の計は、教育にあり。
Shot by a fool — it can't be helped.
我輩、馬鹿な男になぐられて、しょうがないわい。
Life & Legacy
Ito Hirobumi was born on 16 October 1841 in Suo Province, the son of a peasant. Adoption raised the family to the lowest samurai rank when he was thirteen. At sixteen he entered Yoshida Shoin's Shoka Sonjuku at Hagi, but his low status meant he listened to lectures standing outside. He joined the radical anti-foreign movement, taking part in burning the British legation and assassinating Hanawa Tadatomi.
In 1863 the 22-year-old was smuggled to London with the Choshu Five, carrying a pocket dictionary and a sleeping robe. The sight of British industrial power converted him to opening Japan. Hearing of an imminent four-nation bombardment of his domain, he hurried home in 1864 and served as interpreter in the post-war negotiations. In December 1864 he was the first to reach Takasugi Shinsaku's uprising at Kozanji, a moment he later called the proudest of his life.
After the Restoration his English propelled him up the Meiji bureaucracy. As deputy ambassador on the Iwakura Mission he won Okubo Toshimichi's confidence; after Okubo's 1878 assassination he was prime minister in all but name. In 1882 he toured Germany and Austria, studying with Gneist and Stein. In December 1885 he became Japan's first prime minister at 44. The 1889 Meiji Constitution was Prussian in form but constitutionalist in spirit. He founded the Rikken Seiyukai in 1900, opening party politics.
The shadow side belongs in the record. As first Resident-General of Korea from 1905 he led three treaties that stripped Korea of diplomacy and internal sovereignty. He opposed full annexation but cleared the path. On 26 October 1909 the Korean independence activist An Jung-geun shot him at Harbin station; he died at 68. An is a national hero in modern Korea. Ito's image, on the 1,000-yen note from 1963 to 1984, makes him the founder of constitutional Japan; across the strait he is the face of colonial coercion. Both readings belong to him.
Expert Perspective
Ito embodies the duality of constitutional architect and colonial administrator. His Meiji Constitution and founding of party politics built modern Japan's political base. His Resident-Generalship in Korea — three treaties stripping Korean sovereignty — is a permanent shadow on his reputation.
