- Konoe Atsumaro
nihongo|Konoe Atsumaro, 2nd Prince Konoe|近衛篤麿|Konoe Atsumaro (
10 August 1863 –1 January 1904 ) was a Japanese statesman, the 3rd President of theHouse of Peers and 7th President of theGakushuin Peer's School inMeiji period Japan . He was also the father of Prime MinisterKonoe Fumimaro .Early life
Konoe Atsumaro was born in
Kyoto as the heir to the highly-rankedKonoe family of Court nobility. His father Tadafusa died when Atsumaro was young, and he was raised by his grandfather Tadahiro. Also of fragile health, he had problems staying in university, but managed to teach himself English on his own.Fact|date=February 2007Political career
After the
Meiji Restoration , Konoe touredEurope from 1885 until 1890 and studied at bothBonn andLeipzig universities inGermany . After returning to Japan, he became a member of theHouse of Peers as "koshaku" (prince ) under the newkazoku system of peerage.In 1895, he became president of
Gakushuin Peer's School.Later he served as the 3rd President of the
House of Peers , presiding over its 10th through 18th sessions from3 October 1896 to4 December 1903 . From 1903 he concurrently served as a Privy Councillor.Domestically, Konoe was a strong critic of clan-based politics.
In terms of foreign policy, Konoe was a central figure in the
Pan-Asian Movement . He established a Pan-Asian political movement called the nihongo|East Asia Common Culture Society|東亜同文会|Toa Dobunkai which promoted mutual understanding and improvement in relations between Japan and China after theFirst Sino-Japanese War . The society opened a college inNanjing called the nihongo|East Asia Common Cultural College|東亜同文書院|Toa Dobun Shoin in 1900, which was relocated toShanghai in 1901. The college recruited students from Japan wishing to learn theChinese language and culture, and sponsored a school inTokyo for Chinese students seeking higher education in Japan. The society also published a scholarly journal. Graduates of both schools were highly sought after by the Japanese military, Japanese secret intelligence services and ultranationalist organizations for their language skills and in-depth knowledge of Chinese culture.In August 1903, Konoe established the nihongo|Anti-Russia Society|対露同志会|
Tairo Doshikai which pushed for a hard-line foreign policy towardsRussia , which it perceived as a threat to the independence of China,Korea and Japan. Konoe personally urged that Japan declare war on Russia, but died before the start of theRusso-Japanese War in late 1904.His grave is at the Konoe family cemetery at
Daitoku-ji inKyoto .References
* Bergere, Marie-Clarie. "Sun Yat-Sen". Stanford University Press (2000) ISBN 0-8047-4011-9
* Duus, Peter. "The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910 (Twentieth-Century Japan - the Emergence of a World Power, 4"). University of California Press (1998). ISBN 0-520-21361-0.
* Jansen, Marius B. "The Making of Modern Japan". Belknap Press; New Ed edition (October 15, 2002). ISBN 0-674-00991-6
* Keane, Donald. "Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912". Columbia University Press (2005). ISBN 0-231-12341-8External links
* [http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/80.html?c=0 – Bio and Photo in National Diet Library]
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