National Diet Library
National Diet Library Newsletter
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No. 121, September 2001 |
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Selections from NDL Collection
Documents relating to Ito Hirobumi
(Ito Hirobumi Kankei Monjo)
by Hisae Murayama
Modern Japanese Political Documents Division
 Ito
Hirobumi (1841-1909) was a famous politician in the Meiji era. He served
as the first Prime Minister, president of the Privy Council and president
of the House of Peers. He helped draft the constitution of the Empire of
Great Japan (promulgated in 1889), and played a crucial role in the building
of modern Japan. He formed cabinet four times. At the end of the Sino-Japanese
War (1894-1895), he became ambassador plenipotentiary in making peace.
He founded the Rikken Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government Party)
in 1900 and became president. In 1905, he became the first resident
general in Korea and finally he was assassinated by a Korean, An Chung-gun,
in Harbin, Manchuria, China, in 1909.
1.
Portrait of Ito Hirobumi
The National Diet Library has many documents about Ito Hirobumi. We would like to introduce some documents here. The Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room (Kensei Shiryo
Shitsu) of the NDL has the biggest collection of documents relating to
Ito Hirobumi (For Modern Japanese Political History Materials, please see
the article "Tsurumi
Yusuke Monjo" in NDL Newsletter No. 115). This collection is divided
into four parts according to their acquisition history.
All of these documents are searchable by a provisional index "Ito Hirobumi Kankei Monjo" in the Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room. Letters written by Ito Hirobumi are found in over 60 other collections.
These are searchable by sender index. The major collections are below:
Kensei Shiryo Shitsu Shushu Monjo (Documents acquired by the Modern
Japanese Political History Materials Room) also has 51 letters to Ito and
28 letters from Ito himself.
2. Written Opinion by Ito Hirobumi, August 2, 1871 ("Inoue Kaoru Kankei Monjo" 308-1) This
written opinion is about restructuring the Ministry of Finance. Addressees
are Okuma Shigenobu (1838-1922, a statesman who twice served as prime minister),
Inoue Kaoru (1835-1915, a member of the oligarchy that ruled Japan during
the Meiji period) and Shibusawa Eiich (1840-1931, a government official
who helped establish the reforms that put Japan on a firm financial footing
in the Meiji period).
From
1871 to 1873, Ito was dispatched to Europe and America as deputy head of
the Iwakura Mission. He wrote down his experiences in Prussia. A description
titled "Regime and government" in an article of March 13, 1873, is significant
because it shows his early interest in parliamentary systems including
constitution and election system.
4. Imperial Letter on Dispatch of a Special Envoy to Europe to research Constitutional Government, March 3, 1882 ("Ito Hirobumi Kankei Monjo", Papers 209) In
1881, the Meiji government promulgated a mandamus that the Diet should
be established in 1890 and started to prepare for the establishment of
a constitution. In 1882, Ito was dispatched to Europe to study various
constitutional systems.
This
is the final draft of the Constitution of the Empire of Great Japan. It
is assumed that Ito brought this draft when he attended constitutional
assembly in the Privy Council. His signature, Hirobumi, is written at the
lower right-hand corner of cover sheet and there are notes by him in the
text (on this page, he rewrote "Japan" as "Great Japan").
On June 22, 1898, the Jiyuto (Liberal Party) and the Shimpoto (Progressive Party) united to form the Kenseito (Constitutional Party). Ito Hirobumi was prime minister then and recommended Okuma Shigenobu and Itagaki Taisuke (1837-1919; founder of Japan's first political party, the Jiyuto) of the Kenseito to succeed him as premiers and asked them to organize cabinet. As a result, the first party cabinet in Japan came into being. Okuma became prime minister and foreign minister, and Itagaki became interior minister. This material is minutes of tripartite meeting written down by Ito Miyoji (1857-1934), a close associate of Ito Hirobumi. To
see other images, click here.
This
album contains photographs related to Ito's assassination such as snapshots
before and after the assassination, and the judgement.
7-2.
After the assassination, Ito was taken away in a horse-drawn carriage.
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