Editing Takahashi Korekiyo

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Japan from 1921 to 1922}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Takahashi]]|lang=Japanese}}{{Expand Japanese|topic=bio}}{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[Senior Second Rank]]<br />[[Kazoku|Viscount]]
| name                = Takahashi Korekiyo
| native_name         = {{nobold|高橋 是清}}
| native_name_lang    = ja
| image               = Korekiyo Takahashi 2.jpg
| image_size          =
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Japan]]
| monarch             = [[Emperor Taishō|Taishō]]
| 1blankname          = [[Sesshō and Kampaku|Regent]]
| 1namedata           = [[Hirohito]]
| term_start          = 13 November 1921
| term_end            = 12 June 1922
| predecessor         = [[Uchida Kōsai]] (acting)
| successor           = [[Katō Tomosaburō]]
| office1             = [[Rikken Seiyūkai|President of the Rikken Seiyūkai]]
| term_start1         = 13 November 1921
| term_end1           = 10 April 1925
| predecessor1        = [[Hara Takashi]]
| successor1          = [[Tanaka Giichi]]
{{collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes | Ministerial offices |titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}
{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office2             = [[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]]
| primeminister2      = [[Keisuke Okada]]
| term_start2         = 27 November 1934
| term_end2           = 26 February 1936
| predecessor2        = [[Sadanobu Fujii]]
| successor2          = [[Machida Chūji]]
| primeminister3      = [[Inukai Tsuyoshi]]<br>Saitō Makoto
| term_start3         = 13 December 1931
| term_end3           = 8 July 1934
| predecessor3        = [[Junnosuke Inoue]]
| successor3          = Sadanobu Fujii
| primeminister4      = [[Tanaka Giichi]]
| term_start4         = 20 April 1927
| term_end4           = 2 June 1927
| predecessor4        = [[Kataoka Naoharu]]
| successor4          = [[Chūzō Mitsuchi]]
| primeminister5      = [[Hara Takashi]]<br>''Himself''
| term_start5         = 29 September 1918
| term_end5           = 12 June 1922
| predecessor5        = [[Kazue Shōda]]
| successor5          = [[Otohiko Ichiki]]
| primeminister6      = [[Yamamoto Gonnohyōe]]
| term_start6         = 20 February 1913
| term_end6           = 16 April 1914
| predecessor6        = [[Wakatsuki Reijirō]]
| successor6          = Wakatsuki Reijirō
| office7             = Acting [[Prime Minister of Japan]]
| monarch7            = Hirohito
| term_start7         = 15 May 1932
| term_end7           = 26 May 1932
| predecessor7        = [[Inukai Tsuyoshi]]
| successor7          = [[Saitō Makoto]]
| office8             = [[Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)|Minister of Agriculture and Forestry]]
| primeminister8      = [[Katō Takaaki]]
| term_start8         = 1 April 1925
| term_end8           = 17 April 1925
| predecessor8        = ''Office established''
| successor8          = [[Okazaki Kunisuke]]
| office9             = [[Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Japan)|Minister of Commerce and Industry]]
| primeminister9      = Katō Takaaki
| term_start9         = 1 April 1925
| term_end9           = 17 April 1925
| predecessor9        = ''Office established''
| successor9          = [[Noda Utarō]]
| office10            = [[Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce|Minister of Agriculture and Commerce]]
| primeminister10     = Katō Takaaki
| term_start10        = 11 June 1924
| term_end10          = 1 April 1925
| predecessor10       = [[Maeda Toshisada]]
| successor10         = [[Tatsunosuke Yamazaki]] (1943)
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
| office11            = Member of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]
| constituency11      = [[Iwate 1st district (1920–1924)|Iwate 1st]]
| term_start11        = 10 May 1924
| term_end11          = 21 January 1928
| predecessor11       = [[Umatarō Ōya]]
| successor11         = ''Constituency abolished''
| office12            = Member of the [[House of Peers (Japan)|House of Peers]]
| term_start12        = 29 January 1905
| term_end12          = 24 March 1924 {{hanging indent|Nominated by the [[Emperor Meiji|Emperor]]}}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1854|7|27|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Edo]], [[Musashi Province|Musashi]], [[Tokugawa shogunate|Japan]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1936|2|26|1854|7|27|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Akasaka, Tokyo]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
| death_cause         = [[February 26 Incident|Assassination]] (gunshot wound)
| restingplace        = Tama Reien Cemetery, [[Tokyo]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Takahashi Shina|1890}}
| signature           = TakahashiK kao.png
| party               = [[Rikken Seiyūkai]]
}}
[[Viscount]] {{nihongo|'''Takahashi Korekiyo'''|高橋 是清|extra=27 July 1854 – 26 February 1936}} was a Japanese [[politician]] who served as [[Prime Minister of Japan|prime minister of Japan]] from 1921 to 1922 and [[Ministry of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]] when he was assassinated. He was also a member of the [[House of Peers (Japan)|House of Peers]] and head of the [[Bank of Japan]].

Takahashi made many contributions to Japan's development during the early 20th century, including introducing its first [[patent]] system and securing foreign financing for the [[Russo-Japanese War]]. Following the onset of the [[Great Depression]], he introduced controversial financial policies which included abandoning the [[gold standard]], lowering interest rates, and using the [[Bank of Japan]] to finance [[deficit spending]] by the central government. His decision to cut government spending in 1935 led to unrest within the Japanese military, who assassinated him in February 1936. Takahashi's policies are credited for pulling Japan out of the Depression, but led to soaring inflation following his assassination, as Takahashi's successors became highly reluctant to cut off funding to the government.<ref name="wsj">{{cite news|last1=Schlesinger|first1=Jacob M.|title=As Japan Battles Deflation, a Bitter Legacy Looms|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-japan-battles-deflation-a-bitter-legacy-looms-1434011826?tesla=y|access-date=12 June 2015|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=11 June 2015}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Takahashi was born in [[Edo]] (modern-day Tokyo), while Japan was still under the [[Tokugawa shogunate]].<ref>Bank of Japan (BOJ), [http://www.boj.or.jp/en/about/outline/history/pre_gov/sousai07.htm/ 7th Governor]</ref> He was the illegitimate son of a court painter in residence at [[Edo Castle]], and adopted as the son of Takahashi Kakuji, a low-ranking ''[[samurai]]'' in the service of the [[Date clan|Date]] ''[[daimyō]]'' of [[Sendai Domain]]. He studied the [[English language]] and American culture in a private school run by the missionary [[James Curtis Hepburn|James Hepburn]] (the forerunner of [[Meiji Gakuin University]]). On 25 July 1867, he set sail from Japan to [[Oakland, California]], in the [[United States]],<ref>Smethurst, p. 22</ref> and found employment as a menial laborer. Another version of the story has it that he went to the United States to study, but was sold as a slave by his landlord and only with some difficulty was he able to return to Japan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.minato-ala.net/details/guide2/e/0228.html|title = Minato City Sightseeing database}}</ref>

==Bureaucratic career==
[[File:Korekiyo Takahashi 5 cropped.jpg|thumb|left|Korekiyo Takahashi, 1934]]
After his return to Japan in 1868, Takahashi taught English conversation. He later became the first master of the ''{{ill|Kyōryū Gakkō|ja|開成中学校・高等学校#共立学校|vertical-align=sup}}'' high school in Tokyo (currently [[Kaisei Academy]]), and at the same time worked as a low-ranking bureaucrat in the [[Ministry of Education (Japan)|Ministry of Education]], and then in the [[Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce]]. He was appointed as the first chief of the Bureau of Patents, a department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, and helped organized the [[patent]] system in Japan. At one point, he resigned his government positions and went to [[Peru]] to start a silver mining enterprise, but failed.<ref name="wsj" />

Takahashi became an employee of the [[Bank of Japan]] in 1892, and his talents were soon recognized, as he rose to become vice-president in 1898.

During and after the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–1905, Takahashi raised foreign loans that were critical to Japan's war effort. He met personally with American financier [[Jacob Schiff#National loans|Jacob Schiff, who floated half of Japan's loans in the U.S.]] He also raised loans from the [[Rothschild family]] in Britain.

For this success, he was appointed to the [[House of Peers (Japan)|House of Peers]] of the [[Diet of Japan]] in 1905.

Takahashi was named president of the [[Yokohama Specie Bank]] in 1906. He was made a [[baron]] (''danshaku'') under the ''[[kazoku]]'' peerage system in 1907.

Takahashi was Governor of the Bank of Japan from 1 June 1911, through 20 February 1913.<ref>BOJ, [http://www.boj.or.jp/en/about/outline/history/pre_gov/index.htm/ List of Governors].</ref>

==Political career==
[[File:Korekiyo Takahashi kimono.jpg|thumb|upright|Takahashi Korekiyo, late 1920s]]
In 1913, Takahashi was appointed [[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]] by [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] [[Yamamoto Gonnohyōe]] and then joined the [[Rikken Seiyūkai]] political party. He was re-appointed by Prime Minister [[Hara Takashi]] in 1918. In 1920, Takahashi's title was elevated to [[viscount]] (''shishaku'').

==Premiership (1921–1922)==
{{seealso|Takahashi Cabinet}}
After Hara was assassinated in 1921, Takahashi was appointed both Prime Minister and the Rikken Seiyūkai party president.

Takahashi was the second Christian Prime Minister in Japanese history. His term lasted less than seven months, primarily due to his inability as an outsider to control the factions in his party, and his lack of a power base in the party.

==Post-premiership==
After resigning as Prime Minister, Takahashi still retained the position of president of the ''Rikken Seiyūkai''. He resigned his seat in the House of Peers in 1924, and was elected to a seat in the [[House of Representatives of Japan|Lower House]] of the Diet of Japan in the [[1924 Japanese general election|1924 General Election]]. When [[Katō Takaaki]] became the prime minister and set up a coalition cabinet in 1924, Takahashi accepted the post of Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. He divided the department into the [[Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Japan)|Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry]] and the [[Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Japan)|Ministry of Commerce and Industry]]. Takahashi resigned from the ''Rikken Seiyūkai'' in 1925.

Takahashi served as Finance Minister under the administrations of [[Tanaka Giichi]] (1927–1929), [[Inukai Tsuyoshi]] (1931–1932), [[Saitō Makoto]] (1932–1934) and [[Keisuke Okada]] (1934–1936). To bring Japan out of the [[Great Depression of 1929]], he instituted dramatically expansionary monetary and fiscal policy, abandoning the [[gold standard]] in December 1931, and running deficits.<ref>{{cite web|last=Evans-Pritchard|first=Ambrose|title=Japan's economic revolution rocks the world|url=http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/japans-economic-revolution-rocks-the-world-20130122-2d3w2.html|publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=22 January 2013|date=22 January 2013}}</ref>

==Assassination==
{{main|February 26 incident}}
Despite considerable success, his fiscal policies involving reduction of military expenditures created many enemies within the military; and he was among those assassinated by rebelling military officers in the [[February 26 incident]] of 1936. His grave is at the Tama Reien Cemetery in [[Fuchū, Tokyo]]. Along with [[Saitō Makoto]] (who was also assassinated during the Incident), Takahashi would be the last former Japanese prime minister to be assassinated until the [[assassination of Shinzo Abe]] 86 years later in 2022.

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

===Peerages===
* [[Baron#Other|Baron]] (23 September 1907)
* [[Viscount#Non-western counterparts|Viscount]] (7 September 1920)

===Decorations===
* [[File:JPN Zuiho-sho (WW2) 1Class BAR.svg|50px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Sacred Treasure]] (1 April 1906; 5th Class: 28 December 1902; 6th Class: 25 October 1889)
* [[File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg|50px|ribbon bar]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Rising Sun]] (7 September 1920)
* [[File:Legion Honneur GC ribbon.svg|50px]] Grand Cross of the [[Légion d'honneur]] (3 July 1924)
* [[File:JPN Toka-sho BAR.svg|50px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Paulownia Flowers]] (3 June 1927)
* [[File:JPN Daikun'i kikkasho BAR.svg|50px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Chrysanthemum]] (26 February 1936; posthumous)
* [[List of Japanese court ranks, positions and hereditary titles|Senior Second Rank]] (26 February 1936; posthumous)

==Legacy==
[[Image:Series B 50 yen Banknote.jpg|thumb|Series B 50-yen bank note of Japan]]
[[Image:Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum-insideabuilding.jpg|thumb|Inside Takahashi Korekiyo residence, now at the [[Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum]]]]
{{Commons category|Takahashi Korekiyo}}
* Takahashi appeared on a 50 [[Japanese yen|Yen]] [[banknote]] issued by the Bank of Japan in 1951. It is the only time that a former president of the Bank of Japan has appeared on one of Japan's banknotes.
* Takahashi's Tokyo residence is now the "Takahashi Korekiyo Memorial Park" in Tokyo's [[Minato, Tokyo|Minato Ward]], [[Akasaka, Tokyo|Akasaka]]. However, a portion of the building survives in the [[Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum]] in [[Koganei, Tokyo|Koganei]] city, Tokyo.
* Takahashi's fiscal and monetary policies during the Great Depression were in many ways similar to what Keynes later published just a few years later in 1936 in [[The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money]].  It is thought but not proven that Takahashi's success contributed heavily to Keynes' theories.
* [[Ben Bernanke]], chairman of the [[United States Federal Reserve]], characterized Takahashi as a man who "brilliantly rescued Japan from the [[Great Depression]]", and Japanese prime minister [[Shinzō Abe]] cited Takahashi as an inspiration for his [[Abenomics]] policies. On the other hand, Bank of Japan president [[Masaaki Shirakawa]] characterized Takahashi's policies of central bank support for the government as a "bitter experience", and in 1982 the Bank of Japan itself characterized Takahashi's Depression-era policies as "the bank's biggest mistake in its 100-year history".<ref name="wsj" />

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [[Herbert Bix|Bix, Herbert P.]] (2000). ''[[Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan]].'' New York: [[HarperCollins]]. {{ISBN|978-0-06-019314-0}}; {{OCLC|247018161}}
* [[Marius Jansen|Jansen, Marius B.]] (2000). ''The Making of Modern Japan.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|9780674003347}}; {{OCLC|44090600}}
* Myung Soo Cha, "Did Takahashi Korekiyo Rescue Japan from the Great Depression?," ''The Journal of Economic History'' 63, No. 1 (Mar 2003): 127–44.
* Nanto, Dick K. and Shinji Takagi, "Korekiyo Takahashi and Japan's Recovery from the Great Depression," ''American Economic Review'' 75, No. 2 (May 1985): 369–74.
* Smethurst, Richard J. (2007). ''From Foot Soldier to Finance Minister: Takahashi Korekiyo, Japan's Keynes.'' Cambridge: Harvard  University Press.
* __________. (2002). "Takahashi Korekiyo's Fiscal Policy and the Rise of Militarism in Japan During the Great Depression," in ''Turning Points in Japanese History'', ed. Bert Edström. Japan Library.
* Wolferen, Karl van. ''The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation''. Vintage; Reprint edition (1990). {{ISBN|0-679-72802-3}}
* Tsuboi, Kenichi ''Escape from the Showa Financial Panic and Korekiyo Takahashi's Inflation Policies'', Diamond Weekly (2012).  (in Japanese).    [http://diamond.jp/articles/print/15647]

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/031612}}

{{s-start}}
{{S-gov}}
{{succession box | before=[[Shigeyoshi Matsuo]] | title=[[Bank of Japan|Governor of the Bank of Japan]]| years= Jun 1911 – Feb 1913| after=[[Yatarō Mishima]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | before= [[Wakatsuki Reijirō]]| title=[[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]]| years= Feb 1913 – Apr 1914| after=[[Wakatsuki Reijirō]]}}
{{succession box | before= [[Kazue Shōda]]| title=[[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]]| years= Sept 1918 – Jun 1922| after=[[Otohiko Ichiki]]}}
{{succession box | before=[[Hara Takashi]] | title=[[Prime Minister of Japan]]| years= Nov 1921 – Jun 1922| after=[[Katō Tomosaburō]]}}
{{succession box | before=[[Toshisada Maeda]] | title=[[Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce|Minister of Agriculture & Commerce]]| years= Jun 1924 – Apr 1925| after= position abolished}}
{{succession box | before= none | title=[[Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Japan)|Minister of Commerce & Industry]]| years= Apr 1925| after=[[Noda Utarō]]}}
{{succession box | before= none | title=[[Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Japan)|Minister of Agriculture and Forestry]]| years= Apr 1925| after=[[Okazaki Kunisuke]]}}
{{succession box | before=[[Seinosuke Yokota]] | title=[[Minister of Justice (Japan)|Minister of Justice]]| years= Feb 1925| after=[[Heikichi Ogawa]]}}
{{succession box | before= [[Kataoka Naoharu]]| title=[[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]]| years= Apr–Jun 1927| after=[[Chōzō Mitsuchi]]}}
{{succession box | before= [[Junnosuke Inoue]]| title=[[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]]| years= Dec 1931 – Jul 1934| after=[[Sadanobu Fujii]]}}
{{succession box | before= [[Sadanobu Fujii]]| title=[[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]]| years= Nov 1934 – Feb 1936| after=[[Chōji Machida]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Prime Ministers of Japan}}
{{Japanese finance ministers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Takahashi, Korekiyo}}
[[Category:1854 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:People murdered in 1936]]
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[[Category:Assassinated nobility]]
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[[Category:Japanese Protestants]]
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[[Category:Assassinated prime ministers of Japan]]