Okazaki Kunisuke

In this Japanese name, the surname is Okazaki.

Okazaki Kunisuke
岡崎 邦輔
Okazaki in 1932
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
In office 17 April 1925 – 2 August 1925
Prime Minister	Katō Takaaki
Preceded by	Takahashi Korekiyo
Succeeded by	Hayami Seiji
Member of the House of Peers
In office 4 April 1928 – 22 July 1936 Nominated by the Emperor
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 15 May 1908 – 21 January 1928
Preceded by	Sekine Ryūsuke
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Constituency	Tokyo Counties (1908–1912) Wakayama Counties (1912–1920) Wakayama 2nd (1920–1928)
In office 1 September 1894 – 10 June 1898
Preceded by	Senda Gunnosuke
Succeeded by	Hamaguchi Kichiemon
Constituency	Wakayama 1st
In office 24 September 1891 – 30 December 1893
Preceded by	Mutsu Munemitsu
Succeeded by	Senda Gunnosuke
Constituency	Wakayama 1st
Personal details
Born	(1854-04-12)12 April 1854 Wakayama, Kii, Japan
Died	22 July 1936(1936-07-22) (aged 82)
Party	Rikken Seiyūkai
Other political affiliations	Independent (1891–1897) Jiyūtō (1897–1898) Kenseitō (1898–1900)
Alma mater	University of Michigan

Okazaki Kunisuke (岡崎邦輔; 12 April 1854 – 22 July 1936) was a politician and cabinet minister in the late Meiji and Taishō period Empire of Japan.

Biography

Okazaki was born as the younger son in a samurai class family in Wakayama Domain, what is now Wakayama Prefecture. His father was a karō with revenues of 400 koku as a direct retainer of the Kiishū Tokugawa family, and he was the first cousin of Mutsu Munemitsu.

After the Meiji Restoration, at the invitation of Mutsu Munemitsu, Okazaki left Wakayama for Tokyo in 1873. When Mutsu was appointed as ambassador to the United States, Okazaki accompanied him as his secretary and enrolled in the University of Michigan, where he became acquainted with Minakata Kumagusu. Okazaki returned to Japan in 1890, and was elected to the lower house of the Diet of Japan in the 1890 Japanese general election. It marked the start of his political career, and he was subsequently to be reelected to the House of Representatives multiple times. In 1897, he became a member of the Liberal Party of Japan (Jiyūtō). After Mutsu’s death, he became associated with another of Mutsu’s protégés, Hoshi Toru, and supported the overthrow of the First Ōkuma Cabinet, and the formation of the Association of Friends of Constitutional Government party.

In 1900, Okazaki was chosen to become Minister of Communications in the Fourth Itō Cabinet. For the next twenty years, he continued to play an active, behind-the-scenes role in Japanese party politics, reemerging into the spotlight as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry under the Katō Takaaki Cabinet in 1925. In 1928, he was appointed to the House of Peers.

References

• Sims, Richard (2001). Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23915-7.
• Schencking, J. Charles (2005). Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4977-9.
• Ozaki, Yukio. (2001). The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in Japan. [Translated by Fujiko Hara]. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05095-3

External links

• Media related to Kunisuke Okazaki at Wikimedia Commons