Konoe Atsumaro

Atsumaro Konoe (Japanese近卫 笃 麿; born October 10, 1863 ( Japanese calendar: Bunkyū (文 久) 3.6.26 ) in Kyoto, † January 1, 1904 ) was a Japanese politician of the early Meiji period with strong anti-Russian tendencies.

Journey

Konoe Atsumaro was the adopted son and half-brother of " Registrar to the left " Konoe Tadafusa (近卫 忠 房, † 1873) and Shimazu Nariaki (岛 津 斉 彬). Already he was 10 years old, under the tutelage of his grandfather Tadahiros (近卫 忠 熙) standing, head of the family, as his half-brother died. Already with 7 and 9 years, he had been married. As part of the nobility reform in 1884, he received the princely rank ( Kōshaku ).

At 13, he began to prepare for entry into universities, but had health problems. After he had purchased at the Adel School Chinese, English and German language skills, he studied 1884-1890 in Bonn, Leipzig and Austria.

With his first wife Sawa († 1892), the fifth daughter of Maeda Yoshiyasu (前 田 庆 宁), he was married for 22 years and had a son Fumimaro, the future prime minister. His second wife († 1888), the younger sister of his first, bore him a daughter and three sons in the 16 years of their marriage. The second, Graf Hidemaro, was known as a conductor and composer.

After his return in 1890 he became a member of the manor ( Kizokuin ), whose spokesman he was from 1896 ( until 1903 ). Furthermore, he worked after 1898 as president of the Hokkaido Society and the pan- Asian aligned Toa Dōbunkai (东 亜 同 文 会), which from 1901 had its headquarters in Shanghai. Domestically, he turned against the family -based gangs policy.

In foreign policy, he was active as a rabid opponent of Russia in the co-founders of Kokumin Dōminkai and created in August 1903 "anti- Russian Society " (対 露 同志 会, Tairo Dōshikai ). He advocated the military expansion in China and to Manchuria and was one of the loudest advocates of war against Russia, but died before the outbreak of hostilities.

From 1895 to 1903 was Atsumaro, the training of young people at heart, the school for the children of the Japanese aristocracy, Gakushuin (学习 院), as a director before.

He was buried in 1904 at the family cemetery in Daitoku -ji in Kyoto.

Literature and art

His diaries were published 1968-9 in six volumes.

Swell

• Berend Wispelwey (ed.): Japanese Biographical Archive. Fiche 167, K.G. Saur, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-598-34014-1