Who was this person?
A diplomat of the Meiji period who served as foreign minister. Born to a village doctor's family in Chōshū, he studied in Prussia (Germany) and became a diplomat expert on Germany. As foreign minister he worked on treaty revision but resigned after the Ōtsu Incident; later, as minister to Britain, he signed the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of 1894.
| Name | Aoki Shūzō (青木周蔵) |
|---|---|
| Born–died | 1844 – 1914 |
| Period | Late Edo–Taishō |
| Birthplace | Nagato Province |
| Main achievements |
|
He was born in a village in Asa district, Nagato Province (Yamaguchi), the eldest son of Miura Genchū, a village doctor of the Chōshū domain. His childhood name was Miura Danshichi. Raised in a doctor's family, he too set out to study medicine. He studied at Meirinkan, the domain school, and came to be recognized as a young man excelling in learning.
He was adopted by Aoki Kenzō into the Aoki family, doctors serving the Mōri lords of the domain. Kenzō's elder brother Aoki Shūsuke was known as a Dutch-learning scholar who had carried out smallpox vaccination early in Japan. Taking one character from his adoptive father and one from Shūsuke, he renamed himself Shūzō. He was then sent by the domain to Nagasaki to study Western medicine.
He went to Prussia (Germany) as a domain student. A story tells that on his first trip abroad he still wore a topknot and was laughed at everywhere, so a traveling companion cut his hair for him. In Germany he switched without permission from medicine to politics and economics, which caused trouble, but he talked the matter through with the visiting Yamagata Aritomo and won approval.
Putting his German studies to use, he joined the foreign ministry. The next year he became minister to Germany and went to Berlin. Worried that Japanese students were concentrating on military science and medicine, he argued that they should be spread across the many fields modernization required, such as forestry, papermaking and brewing.
In Germany he met Elisabeth, daughter of a Prussian noble family, and resolved to marry her. He struggled because his divorce from his wife in Japan was hard to obtain, but with help from Shinagawa Yajirō and others he got the foreign ministry's permission to marry. His life in Germany lasted twenty-five years in all, and he was known as Japan's foremost expert on Germany.
He assisted Itō Hirobumi, who had come to Europe to study constitutions, introducing him to legal scholars such as Gneist of the University of Berlin and Stein of the University of Vienna. From these scholars Itō learned German and Austrian constitutional thinking, which he used in drafting the later Meiji Constitution.
Returning to Japan, he became vice minister for foreign affairs, supporting Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru and joining negotiations to revise the unequal treaties with foreign countries. He stayed on as vice minister under Ōkuma Shigenobu, who became foreign minister after Inoue, and worked at the center of the talks as a plenipotentiary for treaty revision.
After Ōkuma Shigenobu was badly injured in an attack and resigned, Aoki became foreign minister in Yamagata Aritomo's cabinet. He drew up the Aoki Memorandum, a policy protecting Japan's position, for example by not admitting foreign judges to the highest court, and personally directed negotiations with Britain. Britain, wary of Russia, was also friendly to Japan, and the talks came close to success.
Just before the new treaty was to be signed, the Ōtsu Incident occurred, in which the visiting Russian crown prince was slashed by a police guard in Ōtsu, Shiga. Aoki took responsibility and resigned as foreign minister, and the treaty negotiations were suspended. Mutsu Munemitsu was chosen as the next foreign minister.
As minister to Britain, he advanced negotiations together with Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu and signed the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation in London. The treaty decided the end of consular jurisdiction, under which foreigners were not tried under Japanese law. Long years of effort for treaty revision at last achieved a major result.
In Yamagata Aritomo's second cabinet he again became foreign minister. When the Boxer Rebellion broke out in China in 1900, he quickly grasped the moves of the powers and argued that Japan should also take an active part. Later he served as a privy councillor, an adviser to the emperor, and believed Japan should take a firm stance toward Russia.
He became ambassador to the United States and went to Washington. On the American West Coast at that time, hostility toward Japanese immigrants was growing, and problems arose such as Japanese children being segregated at school. Aoki worked to resolve these immigration issues, but the negotiations were difficult, and the following year he was relieved of the post and returned home.
He died of pneumonia at his home in Tokyo. His body was buried near his villa at Nasu in Tochigi. The Western-style house he built at Nasu still stands as the former Aoki family Nasu villa. As a diplomat who brought German culture and institutions to Japan and long worked on treaty revision, he helped open the way for Meiji Japan to raise its standing in international society.
A. A diplomat of the Meiji period who served as foreign minister. Born to a village doctor's family in Chōshū, he studied in Prussia (Germany) and became a diplomat expert on Germany. As foreign minister he worked on treaty revision but resigned after the Ōtsu Incident; later, as minister to Britain, he signed the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of 1894.
A. Period: Late Edo–Taishō. Born in 1844, died in 1914.
A. Aoki Shūzō was born in Nagato Province.
A. The treaty set the end of consular jurisdiction (extraterritoriality), under which foreigners who committed crimes in Japan could not be tried under Japanese law. It was a major step in revising the unequal treaties, negotiated by Aoki together with foreign minister Mutsu Munemitsu.
See also: Wikipedia (ja) / Wikipedia (en) / Wikipedia (fr) / Wikipedia (zh) / Wikidata
Follow this life (autoplay)Inoue KaoruŌkuma ShigenobuYamagata AritomoItō HirobumiMutsu Munemitsu
Inoue MasaruSaigō TsugumichiMutsu MunemitsuInoue KowashiNiijima YaeNakae ChōminMori ArinoriTōgō Heihachirō
People of the Meiji period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.