Enomoto Takeaki
Enomoto Takeaki (榎本 武揚
Enomoto Takeaki,
August 25,
1836–
August 26,
1908) was a
Japanese Navy admiral faithful to the
Tokugawa Shogunate, who fought against the new
Meiji government until the end of the
Boshin War, but later served in the government.
 |
Enomoto around 19, before leaving for Europe. |
Enomoto was born as a member of a retainer family of the
Tokugawa clan. In the era of
isolationist policy (
Sakoku), Japan had strictly limited contacts with only a few foreign countries, like
Korea,
China and the
Netherlands. Enomoto started learning
Dutch in the
1850s, and after Japan's ‘opening' by
Commodore Matthew Perry in
1854, he studied Dutch naval warfare in the
Bakufu's
Naval Training Center in Nagasaki and at the
Tsukiji Warship Training Center in
Edo. By the age of 26, he was sent to the Netherlands, where he studied naval warfare,
1862-
1867. He reportedly became fluent in both the Dutch and English languages.
He returned to Japan onboard the
Kaiyō Maru, a state-of-the-art steam warship purchased from the Netherlands by the Shogun government. Upon his return, Enomoto Takeaki was promoted to Kaigun Fukusosai (海軍副総裁), the second highest rank in the Tokugawa Shogunate Navy, at the age of 31.
During his stay in Europe, Enomoto had realised that the
telegraph would be an important means of communication in the future, and started planning a system to connect Edo and
Yokohama when he returned to Japan in 1867 on board the
Kaiyō Maru.
In
1868, when the
Meiji government defeated the forces of the Shogun and occupied Edo, Enomoto refused to deliver his warships, and escaped to
Hakodate with the whole Shogun fleet and a handful of
French military advisers and their leader
Jules Brunet. His fleet, made of eight steam warships, was the strongest in Japan at the time.
They hoped to found a state under the rule of the Tokugawa family in
Hokkaido, but the Meiji government refused their request. In
December 25, they declared the foundation of the
Republic of Ezo and elected Enomoto as president.
The next year, the Meiji Governmental
Army and
Navy invaded Hokkaido and defeated the former Shogunate Army, as well as the Navy of the Republic in the
Naval Battle of Hakodate. On
18 May 1869 the Republic gave in, and Hokkaido accepted the
Meiji Emperor's rule.
|
Kuroda Kiyotaka protected his former enemy Enomoto Takeaki, and help him play a role in Meiji Japan. |
Enomoto was imprisoned and accused of
high treason, but in
1872 he was pardoned by the new Meiji government. The Meiji leaders had realized that a man of Enomoto's talents could be of use to them. Enomoto - under the protection of the
Satsuma leader
Kuroda Kiyotaka - rose astonishingly fast within the new ruling
clique, faster and higher than any other member of the former Tokugawa clan. He was to become one of the few former Tokugawa retainers who could exert political influence in Meiji Japan as well, since politics in these days were dominated by the anti-Tokugawa clans from
Choshu and
Satsuma.
In
1874, Enomoto was appointed
vice-admiral, and, as a special envoy, he was sent to
Russia to negotiate the
Treaty of Saint Petersburg (
Treaty of exchange of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin), which was signed the next year. The conclusion of the treaty was very well received in Japan and further raised Enomoto's prestige within the ruling circles. On the other hand, the appointment of Enomoto as envoy was seen as adding to the sense of national unity.
|
Enomoto Takeaki during his later years. |
In
1880, Enomoto rose as high as
navy minister, and in
1885 he again showed his skills as a diplomat by assisting
Ito Hirobumi in concluding the
Tientsin Treaty with
Qing China. Afterwards, Enomoto frequently held high posts in the Japanese government. He was Japan's first minister of communications (1885-
1888) after the introduction of the
cabinet system in 1885. He was also minister of agriculture and commerce in 1888 and again from
1894 to
1897, minister for education in
1889-
1890 and
foreign minister in
1891-
1892. In
1887, Enomoto was granted the rank of a
viscount as well as membership in the
Privy Council, one of Meiji Japan's most prestigious institutions.
He successively held several ministry positions in the government, and was especially active in promoting Japanese expansionism through settler colonies in the
Pacific Ocean and
South and
Central America. In 1891 he established - against the will of the cabinet of
Matsukata Masayoshi - a 'section for
emigration' in the foreign ministry, with the task of encouraging emigration and finding new potential territories for Japanese settlement overseas. Two years later, after leaving the government, Enomoto also helped to establish a private organization, the '
Colonial Association', to promote external trade and emigration.
He died in
1908 at the age of 72.
*
Jules Brunet*
Imperial Japanese Navy*
Naval Battle of Hakodate* "End of the Bakufu and restoration in Hakodate" (Japanese: 函館の幕末・維新) ISBN 4120016994
