Narahara Shigeru
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Baron
, also known as Narahara Kogorō, was a Japanese politician of the Meiji period
who served as the eighth governor of Okinawa Prefecture
from 1892 to 1907, and in a number of other posts over the course of his career.
A samurai
of Satsuma Domain prior to the Meiji Restoration
, he played a role in opposing radical elements among his fellows, though he may also have been responsible for the killing of the Englishman Richardson in the 1862 Namamugi Incident
, which led to the bombardment of Kagoshima
and proved damaging to the Tokugawa shogunate
.
). When, in 1862, Lord
of Satsuma Shimazu Hisamitsu
learned that radical elements among the Satsuma samurai were meeting at the Teradaya Inn in Kyoto and plotting against the shogunate
, Narahara was among a number of samurai dispatched to put an end to the plots, suppress the radical movement, and bring the rebel samurai home. The ensuing skirmish, in which a number were killed, has come to be known as the Teradaya Incident.
Another major incident involving samurai of Satsuma occurred several months later, at Namamugi, near Yokohama
. In the so-called Namamugi Incident
, an Englishman named Richardson was killed, and two men accompanying him seriously wounded, when they failed to dismount and step aside for a group of Satsuma samurai coming the other way down the road. Historian George Kerr claims it was Narahara who killed Richardson. However, other sources indicate that the Narahara Kizaemon often named as having been involved in this incident was in fact Shigeru's brother and not Shigeru himself.
Following the 1868 Meiji Restoration
, the shogunate fell, the system of han (feudal domains) was abolished
along with the samurai class, and a new "modern" government was established, heavily influenced by Western systems. Narahara, like many former samurai officials, became a politician in this new system, as the administration of Satsuma Domain was reorganized into that of Kagoshima Prefecture. He now filled the role of chief retainer to former daimyo Shimazu Saburō and manager of his affairs.
In January 1872, Narahara and another Kagoshima official, Ijichi Sadaka, led a mission to Shuri, the capital of the Okinawan kingdom of Ryūkyū
. The previous year, there had been an incident in which an Okinawan fishing boat crashed on Taiwan
; there was a struggle between the Okinawan fishermen and a group of Taiwanese aborigines, which ended in the death of most of the Okinawans. This developed into an international incident
, calling into question Chinese and Japanese claims to both Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands
and drawing Tokyo's attention to the threat posed to (the rest of) Japan should China or a Western power seize, colonize, or otherwise exert influence over Ryukyu. Meeting with officials at Shuri, Narahara and Ijichi discussed a number of matters including matters of the kingdom's debts and tax obligations to Kagoshima, exploitation of coal deposits recently discovered on the Yaeyama Islands
, and the need for the king of Ryukyu to formally pay his respects to the Emperor of Japan
, thus symbolically acknowledging his subordination and that of his kingdom to the Empire of Japan
.
Narahara left the Kagoshima administration for Tokyo and entered the Home Ministry
in 1878 and, after serving as governor of Shizuoka Prefecture
and in other posts for a time, in 1892 he became governor of Okinawa Prefecture.
His term is marked by the end of the "policy of preserving the old customs" (旧慣温存, kyūkan onzon) in Okinawa, or the "'Do Nothing' Era" as historian George H. Kerr
dubs it; up until this point, Tokyo's policies towards Okinawa largely focused on maintaining old customs and administrative forms so as to appease local discontent, encourage pro-Japanese attitudes, and avoid feeding pro-Chinese attitudes. Under Narahara, this era of maintenance of the old ways came to an end, and Westernization and modernization efforts which had already been underway in the rest of Japan for several decades began to be undertaken in Okinawa. These efforts chiefly included land reforms, harbor construction, and the implementation of the national system of public education. Extensive administrative reforms, including the redrawing of districts and reorganization of local assemblies, were undertaken to establish modern administrative methods and systems in Okinawa resembling those now in place in the other Japanese prefectures, and the first steps were taken towards Okinawan representation in the National Diet
. The establishment of a Temporary Land Readjustment Bureau in 1898, which aimed to convert roughly three-quarters of the total land area of the prefecture, traditionally communal land, into private land subject to modern administration and individual, rather than communal village-level, taxation, is identified by George Kerr as "one of the great turning points in Okinawan history, and the most significant event to take place between the king's abdication in 1879 and the American invasion of 1945."
Even so, despite extensive reforms and modernization efforts, the prefecture's economic and political situation vis-a-vis Tokyo could be said to have more closely resembled that of a colony
than that of an integral part of the home country. Narahara was not popular in Okinawa. He is said to have largely ignored the needs of Okinawan farmers, and to have given preferential treatment to men from his home province of Satsuma (Kagoshima prefecture). A number of movements arose opposing his policies; one was led by prefectural official Jahana Noboru
and connected to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement
(自由民権運動, jiyū minken undō) active in other parts of the country. Jahana and his compatriots accused Narahara's administration of unfair policies and unjust treatment; the movement was ultimately suppressed by Narahara. Another group of officials and other prominent Okinawans, called the Kōdō-kai
(公同会, "Public Unity Association"), sought to reunite the Okinawan people under Okinawan leadership, and called for the replacement of Narahara as governor with the Marquis Shō Tai
, who had abdicated as king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom years earlier. Though the Kōdō-kai was not calling for Okinawan independence, and supported an Okinawan administration within the Empire of Japan and subordinate to the government at Tokyo, the central government deemed that giving in to their demands could be seen to reflect an acknowledgment of Japanese misrule or Okinawan dissatisfaction, and could contribute to the debate over sovereignty of the islands. Thus, the movement was quickly crushed.
After serving as governor of Okinawa for fifteen years, Narahara was succeeded by his chief assistant, Hibi Kimei, in 1907.
Kazoku
The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...
, also known as Narahara Kogorō, was a Japanese politician of the Meiji period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...
who served as the eighth governor of Okinawa Prefecture
Okinawa Prefecture
is one of Japan's southern prefectures. It consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over long, which extends southwest from Kyūshū to Taiwan. Okinawa's capital, Naha, is located in the southern part of Okinawa Island...
from 1892 to 1907, and in a number of other posts over the course of his career.
A samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
of Satsuma Domain prior to the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
, he played a role in opposing radical elements among his fellows, though he may also have been responsible for the killing of the Englishman Richardson in the 1862 Namamugi Incident
Namamugi Incident
The was a samurai assault on foreign nationals in Japan on September 14, 1862, which resulted in the August 1863 bombardment of Kagoshima, during the Late Tokugawa shogunate...
, which led to the bombardment of Kagoshima
Bombardment of Kagoshima
The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , took place on 15–17 August 1863 during the Late Tokugawa shogunate. The British Royal Navy was fired on from the coastal batteries near town of Kagoshima and in retaliation bombarded the town...
and proved damaging to the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
.
Life and career
Narahara was born into a samurai family of Satsuma Domain (modern-day Kagoshima PrefectureKagoshima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. The capital is the city of Kagoshima.- Geography :Kagoshima Prefecture is located at the southwest tip of Kyushu and includes a chain of islands stretching further to the southwest for a few hundred kilometers...
). When, in 1862, Lord
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of Satsuma Shimazu Hisamitsu
Shimazu Hisamitsu
Prince , also known as ', was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period. The younger brother of Shimazu Nariakira, Hisamitsu served as regent for his underage son Tadayoshi , who became the 12th and last lord. Hisamitsu was instrumental in the efforts of the southern Satsuma, Chōshū, and Tosa clans...
learned that radical elements among the Satsuma samurai were meeting at the Teradaya Inn in Kyoto and plotting against the shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
, Narahara was among a number of samurai dispatched to put an end to the plots, suppress the radical movement, and bring the rebel samurai home. The ensuing skirmish, in which a number were killed, has come to be known as the Teradaya Incident.
Another major incident involving samurai of Satsuma occurred several months later, at Namamugi, near Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
. In the so-called Namamugi Incident
Namamugi Incident
The was a samurai assault on foreign nationals in Japan on September 14, 1862, which resulted in the August 1863 bombardment of Kagoshima, during the Late Tokugawa shogunate...
, an Englishman named Richardson was killed, and two men accompanying him seriously wounded, when they failed to dismount and step aside for a group of Satsuma samurai coming the other way down the road. Historian George Kerr claims it was Narahara who killed Richardson. However, other sources indicate that the Narahara Kizaemon often named as having been involved in this incident was in fact Shigeru's brother and not Shigeru himself.
Following the 1868 Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
, the shogunate fell, the system of han (feudal domains) was abolished
Abolition of the han system
The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...
along with the samurai class, and a new "modern" government was established, heavily influenced by Western systems. Narahara, like many former samurai officials, became a politician in this new system, as the administration of Satsuma Domain was reorganized into that of Kagoshima Prefecture. He now filled the role of chief retainer to former daimyo Shimazu Saburō and manager of his affairs.
In January 1872, Narahara and another Kagoshima official, Ijichi Sadaka, led a mission to Shuri, the capital of the Okinawan kingdom of Ryūkyū
Ryukyu Kingdom
The Ryūkyū Kingdom was an independent kingdom which ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th century to the 19th century. The Kings of Ryūkyū unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan...
. The previous year, there had been an incident in which an Okinawan fishing boat crashed on Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
; there was a struggle between the Okinawan fishermen and a group of Taiwanese aborigines, which ended in the death of most of the Okinawans. This developed into an international incident
International incident
An international incident is a seemingly relatively small or limited action or clash that results in a wider dispute between two or more nation-states...
, calling into question Chinese and Japanese claims to both Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
and drawing Tokyo's attention to the threat posed to (the rest of) Japan should China or a Western power seize, colonize, or otherwise exert influence over Ryukyu. Meeting with officials at Shuri, Narahara and Ijichi discussed a number of matters including matters of the kingdom's debts and tax obligations to Kagoshima, exploitation of coal deposits recently discovered on the Yaeyama Islands
Yaeyama Islands
The Yaeyama Islands are a group of islands in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.The isles are the remotest part of Japan from the main islands and contains Japan's most southern and most western inhabited islands.The islands form the southern part of the volcanic Nansei Islands...
, and the need for the king of Ryukyu to formally pay his respects to the Emperor of Japan
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...
, thus symbolically acknowledging his subordination and that of his kingdom to the Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
.
Narahara left the Kagoshima administration for Tokyo and entered the Home Ministry
Home Ministry (Japan)
The ' was a Cabinet-level ministry established under the Meiji Constitution that managed the internal affairs of Empire of Japan from 1873-1947...
in 1878 and, after serving as governor of Shizuoka Prefecture
Shizuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...
and in other posts for a time, in 1892 he became governor of Okinawa Prefecture.
His term is marked by the end of the "policy of preserving the old customs" (旧慣温存, kyūkan onzon) in Okinawa, or the "'Do Nothing' Era" as historian George H. Kerr
George H. Kerr
George H. Kerr , also known in Taiwan as 葛超智 , was a United States diplomat during World War II, and in later years he was an author and an academic...
dubs it; up until this point, Tokyo's policies towards Okinawa largely focused on maintaining old customs and administrative forms so as to appease local discontent, encourage pro-Japanese attitudes, and avoid feeding pro-Chinese attitudes. Under Narahara, this era of maintenance of the old ways came to an end, and Westernization and modernization efforts which had already been underway in the rest of Japan for several decades began to be undertaken in Okinawa. These efforts chiefly included land reforms, harbor construction, and the implementation of the national system of public education. Extensive administrative reforms, including the redrawing of districts and reorganization of local assemblies, were undertaken to establish modern administrative methods and systems in Okinawa resembling those now in place in the other Japanese prefectures, and the first steps were taken towards Okinawan representation in the National Diet
Diet of Japan
The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...
. The establishment of a Temporary Land Readjustment Bureau in 1898, which aimed to convert roughly three-quarters of the total land area of the prefecture, traditionally communal land, into private land subject to modern administration and individual, rather than communal village-level, taxation, is identified by George Kerr as "one of the great turning points in Okinawan history, and the most significant event to take place between the king's abdication in 1879 and the American invasion of 1945."
Even so, despite extensive reforms and modernization efforts, the prefecture's economic and political situation vis-a-vis Tokyo could be said to have more closely resembled that of a colony
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
than that of an integral part of the home country. Narahara was not popular in Okinawa. He is said to have largely ignored the needs of Okinawan farmers, and to have given preferential treatment to men from his home province of Satsuma (Kagoshima prefecture). A number of movements arose opposing his policies; one was led by prefectural official Jahana Noboru
Jahana Noboru
was an official in the government of Japan's Okinawa Prefecture, and an Okinawan rights activist, in connection with the .-Life and career:Jahana Noboru was born in 1865 into a farming family in Kochinda magiri on Okinawa...
and connected to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement
Freedom and People's Rights Movement
The was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in 1880s....
(自由民権運動, jiyū minken undō) active in other parts of the country. Jahana and his compatriots accused Narahara's administration of unfair policies and unjust treatment; the movement was ultimately suppressed by Narahara. Another group of officials and other prominent Okinawans, called the Kōdō-kai
Kodo-kai
The Kodo-kai is a yakuza criminal organization based in Nagoya, Japan. It is a secondary organization of the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest known yakuza syndicate in Japan...
(公同会, "Public Unity Association"), sought to reunite the Okinawan people under Okinawan leadership, and called for the replacement of Narahara as governor with the Marquis Shō Tai
Sho Tai
was the last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom . His reign saw greatly increased interactions with travelers from abroad, particularly from Europe and the United States, as well as the eventual end of the kingdom and its annexation by Japan as Okinawa Prefecture.In 1879, the deposed king was forced to...
, who had abdicated as king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom years earlier. Though the Kōdō-kai was not calling for Okinawan independence, and supported an Okinawan administration within the Empire of Japan and subordinate to the government at Tokyo, the central government deemed that giving in to their demands could be seen to reflect an acknowledgment of Japanese misrule or Okinawan dissatisfaction, and could contribute to the debate over sovereignty of the islands. Thus, the movement was quickly crushed.
After serving as governor of Okinawa for fifteen years, Narahara was succeeded by his chief assistant, Hibi Kimei, in 1907.