Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Wakatsuki Reijirō
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Early life== Wakatsuki Reijirō was born on 21 March 1866, in [[Matsue]], [[Izumo Province]] (present day [[Shimane Prefecture]]), the second son of [[samurai]] foot soldier (''[[ashigaru]]'') Okumura Sensaburō and his wife Kura. Though the family was of the samurai warrior nobility, they were very poor, and worked side jobs to support themselves. When Reijirō was three years old, his mother died. As the father and the eldest brother were ordered to work in [[Ōyamazaki, Kyoto|Yamazaki, Kyoto]] by the [[Matsue Domain]], the responsibilities of the house fell onto Reijirō's 11-year-old elder sister Iwa who took care of the three-year-old Reijirō while having a side job. The Okumura family were low-ranking even among the ''ashigaru'', and the family could not have a residence near the center of Sakaimachi. For this reason, the family lived in a rented house on the outskirts of the town, but by the time Reijirō was born, his father had just constructed a small house in Nishitanaka.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Toyoda |first1=Jō |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/23878566 |title=Saishō Wakatsuki Reijirō : Rondon Gunshuku Kaigi shuseki zenken |last2=豊田穣 |date=1990 |publisher=Kōdansha |isbn=4-06-204890-6 |pages=173 |oclc=23878566}}</ref> At the time, samurai were required to wear their [[katana]] (typically two), and Reijirō commuted to [[Terakoya|temple school]] wearing only one wooden sword on his hip. After graduating from elementary school, he entered a [[Chinese literature|Chinese literary]] school, but quit the following year entering a middle school in Matsue. However, he was forced to quit middle school in just eight months because his family could not afford the tuition fees. After quitting school, he collected firewood in the mountains and helped with house chores.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Wakatsuki |first=Reijiro |title=古風庵回顧録 : 明治、大正、昭和政界秘史 若槻礼次郎自伝 |publisher=Yomiuri Shimbunsha |year=1950 |pages=18–25}}</ref> At the age of 16, he began working as an elementary school [[substitute teacher]]. In 1883, he decided to enter the [[Imperial Japanese Army Academy]] as the tuition fees were government expensed, but failed the physical examination. The next year, he heard about student recruitment by the Law School of the Ministry of Justice, which also had its tuition fees covered by the government. However, the examination took place in [[Tokyo]], and the travel fees were not covered. He consulted his uncle, who was the head of [[Nogi District, Shimane|Nogi District]], and was able to borrow 30 [[Japanese yen|yen]] from him. In 1884, Reijirō left Matsue at the age of 19.<ref name=":0" /> Reijirō adopted the surname Wakatsuki after marrying into the family of his wife, since that family had no male heir. He enrolled in the [[University of Tokyo|Tokyo Imperial University]] in 1892 and studied law.
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Wakatsuki Reijirō
(section)
Add topic