Editing Hara Takashi

{{short description|Prime Minister of Japan from 1918 to 1921}}
{{redirect|Takashi Hara|the artist|Takashi Hara (artist)}}
{{hatnote group|{{family name hatnote|Hara|lang=Japanese}}{{Baptismal name|Takashi}}}}
{{More footnotes|date=January 2011}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[Senior Second Rank]]
| name                = Hara Takashi
| native_name         = {{nobold|原 敬}}
| native_name_lang    = ja
| image               = Takashi Hara formal.jpg
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Japan]]
| monarch             = [[Emperor Taishō|Taishō]]
| term_start          = 29 September 1918
| term_end            = 4 November 1921
| predecessor         = [[Terauchi Masatake]]
| successor           = [[Uchida Kōsai]] (acting)
| office1             = [[Rikken Seiyūkai|President of the Rikken Seiyūkai]]
| term_start1         = 1914
| term_end1           = 4 November 1921
| predecessor1        = [[Saionji Kinmochi]]
| successor1          = [[Takahashi Korekiyo]]
{{collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes | Ministerial offices |titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}
{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office2             = [[Minister of Justice (Japan)|Minister of Justice]]
| primeminister2      = ''Himself''
| term_start2         = 29 September 1918
| term_end2           = 15 May 1920
| predecessor2        = [[Itasu Matsumuro]]
| successor2          = [[Enkichi Ōki]]
| office3             = [[Home Ministry|Minister of Home Affairs]]
| primeminister3      = [[Yamamoto Gonnohyōe]]
| term_start3         = 20 February 1913
| term_end3           = 16 April 1914
| predecessor3        = [[Ōura Kanetake]]
| successor3          = [[Ōkuma Shigenobu]]
| primeminister4      = [[Saionji Kinmochi]]
| term_start4         = 30 August 1911
| term_end4           = 21 December 1912
| predecessor4        = [[Hirata Tosuke]]
| successor4          = Ōura Kanetake
| primeminister5      = Saionji Kinmochi
| term_start5         = 7 January 1906
| term_end5           = 14 July 1908
| predecessor5        = [[Kiyoura Keigo]]
| successor5          = Hirata Tosuke
| office6             = [[Ministry of Communications (Japan)|Minister of Communications]]
| primeminister6      = Saionji Kinmochi
| term_start6         = 14 January 1908
| term_end6           = 25 March 1908
| predecessor6        = [[Yamagata Isaburō]]
| successor6          = [[Hotta Masayasu (Viscount)|Hotta Masayasu]]
| primeminister7      = [[Itō Hirobumi]]
| term_start7         = 22 December 1900
| term_end7           = 2 June 1901
| predecessor7        = [[Hoshi Tōru]]
| successor7          = [[Yoshikawa Akimasa]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
| office8             = Member of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]
| constituency8       = [[Morioka city district|Morioka city]] (1902–1920)<br>[[Iwate 1st district (1920–1924)|Iwate 1st]] (1920–1921)
| term_start8         = 1902
| term_end8           = 4 November 1921
| predecessor8        = ''Constituency established''
| successor8          = [[Umatarō Ōya]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1856|3|15|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Morioka|Motomiya]], [[Mutsu Province|Mutsu]], [[Tokugawa shogunate|Japan]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1921|11|4|1856|2|9|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Chiyoda, Tokyo]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
| death_cause         = [[Stab wounds]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Hara Asako|1908}}
| party               = [[Rikken Seiyūkai]] (1900–1921)
| otherparty          = [[Rikken Teiseitō]] (1882–1883)<br>[[Rikken Kaishintō]] (1883–1896)
| alma_mater          = [[University of Tokyo|Imperial University]] (Incomplete)
| signature           = HaraT kao.png
| module              = {{Infobox Chinese
| child=yes
| kanji = 原 敬
| hiragana = はら たかし
| romaji = Hara Takashi
}}
}}
{{nihongo|'''Hara Takashi'''|原 敬||extra=15 March 1856 – 4 November 1921}} was a Japanese [[politician]] who served as the [[Prime Minister of Japan]] from 1918 until his assassination.

Hara held several minor [[ambassadorial]] roles before rising through the ranks of the [[Rikken Seiyūkai]] and being elected to the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]. Hara served as [[Home Ministry#Ministers of Home Affairs|Home Minister]] in several cabinets under [[Saionji Kinmochi]] and [[Yamamoto Gonnohyōe]] between 1906 and 1913. Hara was appointed prime minister following the [[Rice Riots of 1918]] and positioned himself as a [[moderate]], participating in the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]], founding the [[League of Nations]], and relaxing oppressive policies in [[Japanese Korea]]. Hara's premiership oversaw the [[Siberian intervention]] and the suppression of the [[March 1st Movement]] in [[Japanese-occupied Korea]]. Hara was assassinated by Nakaoka Kon'ichi, a far-right nationalist, on 4 November 1921.

Hara was the first [[commoner]] and first [[Christians|Christian]] appointed to be Prime Minister of Japan, informally known as '''Hara Kei''', and given the [[moniker]] of {{nihongo|"commoner prime minister"|平民宰相|heimin saishō}}.

==Early life==
Hara Takashi was born on 15 March 1856 in Motomiya, a village near [[Morioka]], [[Mutsu Province]], into a ''[[samurai]]'' family in service of the [[Nanbu Domain]]. Hara's family had resisted the [[Meiji Restoration]] in 1868 and fought against the establishment of the very government which Hara himself would one day lead. Hara was an outsider in Japanese politics due to his association with a former enemy [[Japanese clan|clan]] of the new Imperial Government, which at the time was dominated by the former clans of [[Chōshū Domain|Chōshū]] and [[Satsuma Domain|Satsuma]] domains.

Hara left home at the age of 15 and moved to [[Tokyo]] by boat. Hara failed the entrance examination of the prestigious [[Imperial Japanese Naval Academy]], and instead joined the [[Marin Seminary]], a free [[parochial school]] established by the French. It was here that he learned to speak [[French language|French]] language fluently. Soon after that, Hara joined the law school of the [[Ministry of Justice (Japan)|Ministry of Justice]] (later [[University of Tokyo]]), but left without graduating to take responsibility for a student protest against the school's room and board policy. At the age of 17, Hara was baptized as a [[Catholic]], taking on "David" as his [[baptismal name]]. Even though it was speculated that Hara became Christian for personal gain at the time, he remained a Christian in public life until the day he died.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} At the age of 19, Hara chose to classify himself as a {{nihongo|[[commoner]]|平民|heimin}} rather than his family's status as {{nihongo||士族|[[shizoku]]}}, a distinction for former samurai families who were not made into {{nihongo||華族|[[kazoku]]|aristocratic [[peerage|peers]]}}. At various times later in his political career, offers were made to raise his rank, but Hara refused them every time on the basis that it would alienate himself from the common men and limit his ability to gain entrance to the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]. Beginning in 1879, Hara worked as a newspaper reporter for three years, but quit his job in protest over efforts of his editors to make the newspaper a mouthpiece for the [[Rikken Kaishintō]], a [[political party]] led by [[Ōkuma Shigenobu]].

==Political career==
In 1882, Hara took a position in the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] at the request of [[Inoue Kaoru]], the [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Foreign Minister]] at the time. Based on discussions Hara had with him on his views for the future of Japanese politics during a trip both men took to [[Korea]] in 1884, Inoue appointed Hara to become consul-general in [[Tianjin]], and the first secretary to the embassy of Japan in [[Paris]]. Hara served as Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs and as ambassador to [[Korea]] under [[Mutsu Munemitsu]]. He then left the Foreign Ministry to work as a [[journalist]] for several years, and became the manager of a [[newspaper]] company, the ''[[Mainichi Shimbun]]'' based in [[Osaka]].

In 1900, Hara returned to politics and joined [[Itō Hirobumi]]'s newly founded ''[[Rikken Seiyūkai]]'', becoming the first secretary-general of the party.

Hara ran successfully for the House of Representatives as a representative from his native [[Iwate Prefecture]] and was appointed [[Ministry of Communications (Japan)|Minister of Communications]] in the Fourth Ito Administration. Hara later served as [[Home Ministry (Japan)|Home Minister]] in several cabinets between 1906 and 1913, a powerful position that made it able for him to effect many reforms. Hara realized that a fundamental political issue in Japan was the tension between the elected government and the appointed [[bureaucracy]], and his career was dedicated to weakening the power of the non-elected bureaucrats. As Home Minister, Hara tried to implement [[meritocracy]] by systematically dismissing local bureaucrats in local governments in every capacity from [[Governor (Japan)|governor]]s down to high school principals. Any public employee who fell under his power would be replaced by someone in whom he saw real ability instead of a mere useful recipient of a favor or [[nepotism]]. Thus, Hara created a system in which people with talent could rise to the top of the bureaucracy, regardless of their background or rank. Hara also understood that maintenance of the supremacy of the elected leaders depended on the government's ability to develop the Japanese national [[infrastructure]] and on a long-term economic plan that would address regional as well as national interests.

In 1914, after heated debate, Hara was appointed the president of the ''Rikken Seiyūkai'' to replace the outgoing leader, [[Saionji Kinmochi]]. Under Hara's leadership, ''Rikken Seiyūkai'' first lost its majority control of the [[National Diet|Diet]] in the [[1915 Japanese general election|1915 general elections]], but regained its majority in the [[1917 Japanese general election|1917 general elections]].

==Premiership (1918–1921)==
{{seealso|Hara Cabinet}}
[[File:Prime Minister Hara Takashi photograph.jpg|thumb|Hara Takashi during his premiership]]
In 1918, Prime Minister [[Terauchi Masatake]] fell from office as a result of the [[Rice Riots of 1918]], and Hara was appointed as his successor on 28 September. It was the first cabinet headed by a commoner. Also, Hara was the first civilian in Japanese history to become the administrative chief of any of the armed services, when he temporarily took charge of the Navy Ministry, in absence of the Navy Minister, Admiral [[Katō Tomosaburō]], who was serving as the Japanese representative at the [[Washington Naval Conference]].

As prime minister, Hara suffered in terms of popularity, because he refused to use his majority in the lower house to force through [[General Election Law|universal suffrage legislation]]. Hara's cautious approach disappointed communists and socialists, who accused him of delaying universal suffrage as it would endanger his position in power. As a party politician, Hara had never been the favorite of the conservatives, bureaucrats and military, and he was widely despised by the [[ultranationalist]]s. During his term of office, Japan participated in the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], and joined the [[League of Nations]] as a founding member. In Korea, Japan used military force to suppress the [[March 1st Movement|Samil Rebellion]], but later began more lenient policies aimed at reducing opposition to Japanese rule. Particularly following the Samil Uprising, Hara pursued a conciliatory policy towards colonies, particularly Korea. Hara arranged for his political ally, [[Saitō Makoto]], a political moderate, to take over as [[Governor-General of Korea]]; he instituted a colonial administration consisting mainly of civilians rather than military; and he permitted a degree of cultural freedom for Koreans, including (for the first time) a school curriculum that featured [[Korean language]] and history. Hara also sought to encourage a limited amount of [[self-rule]] in Korea&nbsp;– provided that, ultimately, Koreans remained under Japanese imperial control. His overtures, however, won few supporters either among Koreans or Japanese; the former considered them inadequate, the latter considered them excessive.

Hara oversaw most of the [[Japanese intervention in Siberia|Siberian intervention]], which led to growing antagonism between the government and the military.

Of Hara's supposedly proactive policies, most were directed toward politicians, merchants, and conglomerates. In addition, there are some differences in the evaluation of Hara's policies before and after his inauguration, such as the repeated incidents of jail charges and his negative attitude toward the implementation of the universal suffrage law, which was the people's great desire.

==Assassination==
[[File:Tokyo station platform 1914.jpg|thumb|Tōkyō Station in 1914]]
[[File:Assassination from Takashi Hara in Tokyo Station IMG 1802 20120316.JPG|thumb|Site of the assassination, Tōkyō Station Marunouchi South Entrance]]
On 4 November 1921, Hara was stabbed to death by {{ill|Nakaoka Kon'ichi|ja|中岡艮一}}, a right-wing nationalist railroad [[switchman]], at [[Tokyo Station]] while catching a train to [[Kyoto]] for a party conference.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Richard H. |year=1996 |url=https://archive.org/details/politic_mit_1996_00_4336 |url-access=registration |title=Political Bribery in Japan |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/politic_mit_1996_00_4336/page/44 44] |isbn=9780824818197}}</ref> Nakaoka's motives for assassinating Hara were his beliefs that Hara was [[political corruption|corrupt]], involving the ''[[zaibatsu]]'' in Japanese politics, going to pass [[universal suffrage]], and his handling of the [[Nikolayevsk incident]] during the Siberian intervention a year earlier. Nakaoka was also influenced by his boss, who was a vocal opponent of Hara. Nakaoka was found guilty of murder. Prosecutors sought a death sentence, but Nakaoka was instead sentenced to [[life imprisonment]]. However, he was released from prison in 1934 after serving only 13 years.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1922-06-13 |title=Nakaoka |pages=3 |work=Sioux City Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sioux-city-journal-nakaoka/128550994/ |access-date=2023-07-20}}</ref>

Hara was replaced by [[Uchida Kōsai]] as acting prime minister until Uchida was replaced a week later by [[Takahashi Korekiyo]].

As opposed to many of his contemporaries, Hara lived a relatively simple lifestyle in a rented home near [[Shiba Park]] in downtown Tokyo. In his will, he left very few assets behind but among these was his [[diary]], stating that "After a period of some years my diary must be made public. It is the most valuable of all my possessions, so it must be protected." According to the will, Hara's diary was made public and what came to be called the {{nihongo|Hara Diary|原日記|Hara Nikki}} turned out to be one of the most valuable first hand accounts of the political scene in that era. Most of his daily activities are written along with opinions and thoughts regarding the political figures of the time. Hara's diary itself is thousands of pages long and reveals, in depth, a broad range of information previously unknown to historians.

==Honors==
''From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia''

===Japanese===
*Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fifth Class (28 December 1893)
*Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (4 April 1914; Third Class: 16 June 1896)
*Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (7 September 1920)
*Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (4 November 1921; posthumous)

===Foreign===
*{{flag|Belgium}}: Commander of the [[Order of Leopold (Belgium)|Order of Leopold]] (7 July 1888)
*{{flagicon|Spain|1785}} [[Restoration (Spain)|Spain]]: Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of Isabella the Catholic]] (26 October 1896)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* [[Najita, Tetsuo]]: ''Hara Kei in the Politics of Compromise 1905–1915.'' Harvard Univ. Press, 1967.
* Olson, L. A.: ''Hara Kei – A Political Biography.'' Ph.D.diss. Harvard University, 1954.
* Duus, Peter: ''Party Rivalry and Political Change in Taisho Japan.'' Cambridge/Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968.

==External links==
{{Portal|Japan|Biography}}
{{commons category|Hara Takashi}}
{{EB1922 Poster|Hara, Takashi|Hara Takashi}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050322122151/http://www2.city.morioka.iwate.jp/14kyoiku/harakei/hara/top/index.html Hara Kei Memorial Hall]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110722072217/http://www.law.kobe-u.ac.jp/lawrev/1971masuda.pdf Tsuyoshi Masuda, Takashi Hara and China, part 1]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110722072315/http://www.law.kobe-u.ac.jp/lawrev/1973masuda.pdf Tsuyoshi Masuda, Takashi Hara and China, part 2]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/007114}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | before=[[Terauchi Masatake]] | title=[[Prime Minister of Japan]]| years= 29 September 1918 – 15 May 1921| after=[[Uchida Kōsai]]<br /><small>acting</small>}} 
{{succession box | before=[[Matsumuro Itasu]] | title=[[Ministry of Justice (Japan)|Justice Minister]] <small>(acting)</small> | years= 29 September 1918 – 15 May 1920| after=[[Enkichi Ōki]]}} 
{{succession box | before=[[Ōura Kanetake]] | title=[[Home Ministry (Japan)|Home Minister]] | years= 20 February 1913 – 16 April 1914| after=[[Ōkuma Shigenobu]]}} 
{{succession box | before=[[Hirata Tosuke]] | title=[[Home Ministry (Japan)|Home Minister]] | years= 30 August 1911 – 21 December 1912| after=[[Ōura Kanetake]]}} 
{{succession box | before=[[Yamagata Isaburō]] | title=[[Ministry of Communications (Japan)|Communications Minister]]  <small>(acting)</small> | years= 14 January 1908 – 25 March 1908| after=[[Hotta Masayasu (Viscount)|Hotta Masayasu]]}} 
{{succession box | before=[[Kiyoura Keigo]] | title=[[Home Ministry (Japan)|Home Minister]] | years= 7 January 1906 – 14 July 1908| after=[[Hirata Tosuke]]}} 
{{succession box | before=[[Hoshi Tōru]] | title=[[Ministry of Communications (Japan)|Communications Minister]]| years= 22 December 1900 – 2 June 1901 | after=[[Yoshikawa Akimasa]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Prime Ministers of Japan}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1856 births]]
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[[Category:19th-century Japanese diarists]]
[[Category:People from Morioka, Iwate]]
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[[Category:Rikken Seiyūkai politicians]]
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[[Category:Politicians from Iwate Prefecture]]
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[[Category:Deaths by stabbing in Japan]]
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