Saionji Kinmochi
Saionji Kinmochi was a Japanese statesman and diplomat who twice served as Prime Minister of Japan, in 1906–1908 and 1911–1912. He was the last surviving member of the genrō, the small group of unofficial elder statesmen who dominated Japanese politics during the Meiji and Taishō periods. As a member of the Kyoto court nobility, Saionji forged a close relationship with the imperial house from a young age and participated in the Boshin War that overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate. He spent nearly a decade studying in France, where he became a heartfelt Francophile deeply influenced by European liberalism.
Upon his return to Japan, Saionji held a series of high-ranking posts in the Meiji government, including diplomat and cabinet minister, often under the patronage of Itō Hirobumi. In 1903, he succeeded Itō as president of the Rikken Seiyūkai political party and entered into a political compromise with his rival, General Katsura Tarō. For the next decade, a period known as the Keien era, the two men alternated as prime minister, with Saionji leading cabinets from 1906 to 1908 and again from 1911 to 1912.
Following the Taishō political crisis of 1912–1913, Saionji was elevated to the rank of genrō. For the next quarter-century, he played a crucial role in Japanese politics, primarily through his power to recommend prime ministerial candidates to the Emperor. As the most liberal of the elders, he championed party-based governments during the 1920s, a period known as "Taishō democracy". He also led the Japanese delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where he took a background role while securing territorial gains for Japan. As the sole surviving genrō from 1924, his power to restrain the growing influence of the military proved limited. With the rise of militarism in the 1930s, Saionji's influence waned, and he witnessed the collapse of the liberal, pro-Western political order he had spent his life building. He retired from politics in 1937 and died in 1940, a year before Japan's entry into the Second World War.
Early life and career
Saionji Kinmochi was born in Kyoto on 7 December 1849, the second son of Tokudaiji Kin'ito, a high-ranking court noble. His birth name was Yoshimaru; his birth year was deliberately misreported as 1847 to qualify him for certain court sinecures. In 1851, he was adopted by the head of another noble family, Saionji Morosue. Both the Tokudaiji and Saionji families were branches of the powerful Fujiwara clan and had a long history of service to the Imperial Court. From a young age, Saionji was immersed in court politics, being appointed Chamberlain at age four and becoming a playmate and companion of the prince who would become the Emperor Meiji. As a youth, he was known for his rebellious streak; he was reprimanded for practising with a sword, which was considered a brutish display by the Kyoto elite, and he read proscribed books. In 1867, Saionji actively pressed the court to join the armed struggle against the shogunate. During the ensuing Boshin War, the nineteen-year-old Saionji served as an imperial commander and governor, leading a force that achieved mostly bloodless surrenders against pro-shogunate forces and pacifying several regions in northern Japan.After the Meiji Restoration, Saionji briefly founded a private school, the Ritsumeikan, but it was quickly shut down by the authorities for harbouring "dangerous ideas". He resigned his post as governor of Echigo Province and departed for France in 1871, where he remained for nearly a decade. He arrived in Paris in the chaotic aftermath of the Paris Commune and studied law at the Sorbonne, where he was mentored by the radical legal theorist Émile Acollas. Through Acollas, he became acquainted with prominent political figures, including Georges Clemenceau. The experience deeply imbued him with the ideals of French liberalism and constitutionalism. As one of the few Japanese in Paris, he became an object of curiosity during the japonisme craze, befriending the author Judith Gautier, who based the character of "Prince Nagato" on him in her novel L'Usurpateur. During the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, Saionji worked at the Japanese legation to prevent the rebels from acquiring French-made arms.
Saionji returned to Japan in October 1880, at the age of thirty-two. The following spring, he co-founded the Tōyō Jiyū Shinbun newspaper with Nakae Chōmin to promote the growing Freedom and People's Rights Movement. However, the paper was almost immediately banned, and he was forced to resign under pressure from the Imperial Court, which disapproved of his radical political leanings. This move solidified his position within the government camp, and in November 1881 he was appointed a vice-councillor in the Sangiin, a government body tasked with drafting a constitution. In 1882, he accompanied Itō Hirobumi on an eighteen-month tour of Europe to study the constitutions of various nations, cementing a close political relationship with the future prime minister. Around 1884, Saionji's long-term geisha mistress, Okiku, gave birth to his daughter, Shinko. He was appointed to a series of diplomatic posts in Austria-Hungary and Germany and Belgium until returning to Japan in 1891.
In 1894, he joined Itō's second cabinet as Minister of Education. Saionji was a liberaliser, opposing the teaching of classical texts and religion in schools and advocating for the teaching of English. When Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu fell ill in 1895, Saionji was appointed to serve concurrently as acting foreign minister. In this role, he was involved in the final negotiations of the Treaty of Shimonoseki ending the First Sino-Japanese War and the diplomatic crisis of the Triple Intervention, during which he officially became foreign minister in May 1896. The Itō cabinet resigned in August 1896, and Saionji later served as education minister again in Itō's third cabinet in 1898.
President of the Seiyukai and Prime Minister
In 1900, Itō Hirobumi founded the Rikken Seiyūkai political party. Saionji was one of its earliest members and took an active role in its planning. When Itō's fourth cabinet was formed in October 1900, Saionji was appointed president of the Privy Council. He served as acting prime minister on two occasions during the cabinet's tenure. The powerful Sumitomo zaibatsu was linked to the Seiyukai through Saionji's brother, Baron Sumitomo Kizaemon, who served as the conglomerate's president.The Saionji–Katsura compromise
In July 1903, amidst growing political tensions and dissatisfaction with his leadership, Itō resigned as president of the Seiyukai. He nominated Saionji as his successor. Saionji's appointment began a decade of relative political stability characterized by a compromise between the Seiyukai and the conservative bureaucracy. For the next ten years, Saionji and General Katsura Tarō, a protégé of the powerful oligarch Yamagata Aritomo, alternated as prime minister. This arrangement, known as the Keien era, saw the Seiyukai's influence grow, while ensuring that key areas of decision-making, particularly in foreign policy and military affairs, remained under the control of the genrō. As party president, Saionji defined the role of the Seiyukai as a pro-government party that would support the cabinet in line with national policy, but would not interfere in areas such as diplomacy. He argued that political parties were a means to "eliminate the stratum between the Emperor and the People" and that Japan, like other civilized nations, was on a path of political progress that required a strong party system responsive to "enlightened popular will".In December 1904, Katsura reached a secret understanding with Saionji and Hara Takashi that his government would be succeeded by a Saionji-led cabinet. This agreement came to fruition following the end of the Russo-Japanese War. In the face of widespread public dissatisfaction with the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth, which led to the Hibiya riots, Katsura resigned. In January 1906, Saionji became prime minister, forming his first cabinet. His elevation marked a considerable step towards the recognition of political parties as a legitimate part of the governmental process.
First premiership (1906–1908)
The first Saionji cabinet governed for two and a half years. The cabinet was formed through negotiations between Saionji, Katsura, and the individual genrō, and reflected a balance of elite interests. Key posts were held by representatives of the bureaucracy and military, but the Seiyukai made an important advance by securing the posts of Home Minister and Justice Minister. The cabinet pursued policies that were largely a continuation of the previous administration but also reflected Saionji's own commitments. His government took a more relaxed attitude toward socialist activity, and in foreign policy, sought to limit military influence and improve relations with Western powers. Saionji visited Manchuria to investigate the possibility of withdrawing Japanese troops, and his cabinet worked to replace military administration with civilian officials. In Korea, the cabinet initially followed a "mild policy", but in July 1907, it forced the abdication of Emperor Gojong and signed a new agreement granting Japan wide-ranging powers over the Korean government. His cabinet also concluded the 1907 "Gentlemen's Agreement" with the United States to reduce Japanese immigration.The government's policies, particularly Hara's efforts to expand the Seiyukai's influence within the bureaucracy, damaged relations with Katsura and the Yamagata faction. The cabinet's downfall was ultimately caused by economic turmoil and its inability to control military spending. The government's expansionist fiscal policies faced opposition from conservatives and the bureaucracy, while a post-war economic depression led to a surge in the price of rice and growing public discontent. Yamagata and other genrō rejected the government's budget, and in July 1908, Saionji resigned, recommending Katsura as his successor. Business opposition to the cabinet's fiscal and administrative policies also played a large part in its collapse. By acquiescing to the pressure, Saionji showed a deference to the elder statesmen that led some contemporaries to view him as being, by temperament, "as much an oligarch as a party man".