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Komura Jutarō
Komura Jutarō
Born	October 26, 1855(1855-10-26) Nichinan, Miyazaki, Japan
Died	November 25, 1911 (aged 56) Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	Japan
Occupation	Diplomat, Foreign Minister of Japan

In this Japanese name, the family name is Komura.

Marquis Komura Jutarō, GCB, GCMG, GCVO (小村 壽太郎 ^?, October 26, 1855 – November 25, 1911) was a statesman and diplomat in Meiji period Japan.^[1]

Biography

Komura was born to a humble family in the Obi clan at Nichinan, Hyuga province (present-day Miyazaki prefecture). He attended the Daigaku Nanko (the predecessor of Tokyo Imperial University). In 1875, he was selected by the Ministry of Education as one of the first students to study abroad under a government scholarship. While at Harvard University, Komura shared lodgings with fellow Japanese student Kaneko Kentarō. In due course, Komura graduated from Harvard Law School in 1878.

Career of government service

In 1880, Komura joined the Ministry of Justice and after serving as a judge of the Supreme Court, in 1884 transferred to the Translation Bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In 1893, Komura was charge d’affaires at the Japanese legation in Beijing, in Qing dynasty China. In this position, he conveyed to the Chinese government Japan’s intention of dispatching troops to Korea under the provisions of the Treaty of Tientsin to subdue the Tonghak Rebellion – actions which led to the First Sino-Japanese War. ^[2] During the war, Komura was appointed as civilian administrator for territories Japan had captured in Manchuria. He was also a key figure in the negotiations to end the war, culminating in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which he helped draft.

Following the assassination of Queen Min of Korea, Komura was dispatched to replace Miura Gorō as Japanese minister to Korea. ^[3] In his position as resident minister in Korea, he negotiated the Komura-Weber Memorandum in May 1896 with his Russian counterpart Karl Ivanovich Weber, allowing joint interference into Korean internal affairs by Japan and Russia. ^[4]

Komura served as Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs until September 1898, when he was named ambassador to Washington, DC.^[5]

In September 1901, Komura became Minister for Foreign Affairs under the first Katsura administration, and signed the Boxer Protocol on behalf of Japan. He also helped conclude the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902. His tenure as Foreign Minister was marked with increasing tension between Japan and Russia over Korea and Manchuria, cumulating in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

Negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) -- from left to right: the Russians at far side of table are Korostovetz, Navohoff, Witte, Rosen, Plancoff; and the Japanese at near side of table are Adachi, Ochiai, Komura, Takahira, Sato. The large conference table is today preserved at the Museum Meiji Mura in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The war was ended with Komura’s signature on behalf of the Japanese government of the Treaty of Portsmouth, which was highly unpopular in Japan.^[6]

Afterwards, Komura met with Chinese representatives in Beijing, signing the Peking Treaty of December 1905, which transferred former Russian rights in southern Manchuria to Japan.

For these services, he was elevated to the title of hakushaku (count) under the kazoku peerage system, and was appointed to become a member of the Privy Council.

From June 1906 to August 1908, he served as ambassador to Great Britain, during which time he was made a K.C.B. by King Edward VII. On his return to Tokyo he resumed the post of Foreign Minister in the 2nd Katsura administration, signing the Root-Takahira Agreement with the United States.

Komura also played a key role in the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty in 1910, and in concluding various international agreements in 1911 to restore Japan's tariff autonomy.

His grave is at Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

Honors

• Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon.^[7]
• Order of St Michael and St George, Grand Cordon , 1905.^[1]
• Order of the Bath, Grand Cordon, 1907.^[1]
• Royal Victorian Order, Hon. Knight Grand Cross, 1907.^[8]

Notes

References

• Davis, Richard Harding, and Alfred Thayer Mahan. (1905). The Russo-Japanese war; a photographic and descriptive review of the great conflict in the Far East, gathered from the reports, records, cable despatches, photographs, etc., etc., of Collier's war correspondents New York: P. F. Collier & Son. OCLC: 21581015
• Beasley, W.G. Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822168-1
• Kanayama, Nobuo. Komura Jutaro to Potsumasu: Roshia ni "gaiko" de katta otoko. PHP Kenkyujo (1984). ISBN 4-569-21441-X (Japanese)
• Korostovetz, J.J. (1920). Pre-War Diplomacy The Russo-Japanese Problem. London: British Periodicals Limited.
• MacMurray, John Van Antwerp. (1921). Treaties and Agreements with and Concerning China, 1894-1919: A Collection. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex. Modern Library; Reprint edition (2002). ISBN 0-8129-6600-7

External links

• National Diet Library: Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures - Komura
• Yomiuri Shimbun: >15% of primary school students in Japan confused Takayoshi Kido with Komura or Toshimichi Ōkubo, 2008.
• The Museum Meiji Mura