Ōura Kanetaka

Baron nihongo|Ōura Kanetaka|大浦兼武|Ōura Kanetaka|extra= 1850 – September 30 1918 was a politician and bureaucrat in late Meiji and early Taishō period Empire of Japan. He is noted for his involvement in the Ōura scandal of 1914. He held the title of "danshaku" (baron) under the "kazoku" peerage system.

Biography

The Ōura family were hereditary retainers to a branch of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Domain. As a Satsuma samurai, Ōura Kanetaka participated in the Boshin War and the suppression of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei during the Meiji Restoration. Under the new Meiji government, he joined the fledgling Japanese police force, working his way up through the ranks until he became Assistant Police Inspector of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. In this capacity, he was field commander of the police forces sent to assist the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army in suppressing his fellow Satsuma countrymen in the Satsuma Rebellion.

After serving as appointed governor of Shimane Prefecture, Yamaguchi Prefecture and Kumamoto Prefecture, Ōura was appointed Superintendent General of the police, and was given a seat in the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan. In 1903, under the 1st Katsura administration, he became Minister of Communications. He then served as Minister of Agriculture and Trade under the 2nd Katsura cabinet, and as Home Minister under the 3rd Katsura cabinet, and as both Minister of Agriculture and Trade and Home Minister under the 2nd Ōkuma administration. While in the Ōkuma administration, he was accused of perpetrating voting fraud in the Diet by bribing minor political party and undecided members to influence passage of a military spending bill introduced by Ōkuma. This incident came to be known as the Ōura scandal; he was forced to retire, and eventually the Ōkuma adminstration itself was brought down.

In his final years, Ōura served as chairman of the "Dai Nippon Butoku Kai". Ōura died in 1918 at the age of 68.

References

* Idditti, Smimasa. "Life of Marquis Shigenobu Okuma: A Maker of New Japan". Kegan Paul International Ltd. (2006). ISBN 0710311869
* Idditti, Junesay. "Marquis Shigenobu Okuma - A Biographical Study in the Rise of Democratic Japan". Hokuseido Press (1956). ASIN: B000IPQ4VQ
* Lebra-Chapman, Joyce. "Okuma Shigenobu: statesman of Meiji Japan". Australian National University Press (1973). ISBN 0708104002
* Oka Yoshitake, et al. "Five Political Leaders of Modern Japan: Ito Hirobumi, Okuma Shigenobu, Hara Takashi, Inukai Tsuyoshi, and Saionji Kimmochi". University of Tokyo Press (1984). ISBN 0860083799
*cite book
last = Sims
first = Richard
authorlink =
year = 2001
title = Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000
publisher = Palgrave Macmillan
location =
id = ISBN 0312239157