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Politician
A politician from Meiji Japan who became the first Prime Minister. He was involved in the establishment of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan and the development of the modern national system. At the same time, he was deeply involved in imperialist policy as the Superintendent of Korea.
View in catalogHagi
Birth
Tokyo
Work
Residency-General of Korea
Work
Meiji Constitution
1889
Law
Japan-Korea Protectorate Treaty
1905
Political event · Participant
Map: Natural Earth (PD)
Born into a family of lower-class samurai in the Choshu domain, he was influenced by Shoshita Sonjuku and the Sonno-joi movement. At the end of the Edo period, he stowed away in England, and the experience of learning Western systems and technology influenced his later political ideas.
He held important positions in the Meiji government, and was involved in the creation of the cabinet system, the formulation of the constitution, and the operation of the Privy Council. While referring to the Prussian-style constitutional system, he proceeded with the institutional design of an imperial system.
Hirobumi Ito is praised as a system designer for constitutional government, but he was also the person who promoted South Korea's establishment as a protectorate as its commander-in-chief. We need to look at the achievements of modernization and the harms of imperialism at the same time.
If you study Ito Hirobumi, you will understand that the formation of a modern nation in Meiji Japan involved the development of a constitution, parliament, and bureaucracy, as well as external expansion. Modern Japanese history can be considered from the perspective of domestic reform, control of East Asia, and empire formation.
