Katsura Tarō

Who They Were

Prince Katsura Tarō (桂太郎, かつら たろう) was a Japanese general and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan three times: from 1901 to 1906, from 1908 to 1911, and from 1912 to 1913. He was born on 4 January 1848 in Hagi, a castle town in the Chōshū Domain, and died on 10 October 1913 in Mita, Tokyo. His combined tenure as prime minister totalled 7 years and 330 days, making him the second-longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history.

Katsura was a member of the genrō, the informal council of senior statesmen who shaped policy during the Meiji era. He held the military rank of general in the Imperial Japanese Army and also served as Governor-General of Taiwan and as a member of the House of Peers. His career spanned the Edo period (1603–1868) and the Meiji era that followed.

Life and Career

Katsura was born into a samurai family of the Chōshū Domain in the first year of the Kaei era (嘉永, かえい). Chōshū was one of the domains that led the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate, and Katsura took part in the Boshin War of 1868–1869, the civil conflict that resulted in the Meiji Restoration. After the restoration, he spent several years in Germany studying military science, and became a protégé of Yamagata Aritomo, the architect of the modern Imperial Japanese Army.

Katsura distinguished himself during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. He then served as Governor-General of Taiwan, the island Japan had acquired from China under the Treaty of Shimonoseki. In 1898 he became Minister of War, a post he held until 1901, when he was appointed Prime Minister for the first time.

His first premiership was marked by Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. The war ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth, but the Japanese public was outraged that the government had failed to secure an indemnity from Russia. Katsura was forced to resign in 1906. He returned as Prime Minister in 1908. During this second term, his government responded to the High Treason Incident of 1910, in which leftists were arrested en masse on charges of plotting against the emperor. The crackdown was followed in 1911 by the establishment of the Special Higher Police, a political police force. In 1910, Japan formally annexed Korea.

After Emperor Meiji died in 1912, Katsura became Prime Minister for a third time. His appointment triggered the Taisho Political Crisis, a confrontation between the government and the Diet over the limits of executive power. He resigned three months later, after a vote of no confidence.

Why They Matter

Katsura's premierships coincided with Japan's emergence as a major power. The Russo-Japanese War victory under his first government changed the balance of power in East Asia and marked the first time in the modern era that an Asian state had defeated a European empire in a full-scale war. His government's annexation of Korea in 1910 extended Japanese colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula, a decision with consequences that lasted through the twentieth century.

Katsura also represented the authoritarian strain within Meiji politics. The Special Higher Police, established during his second term, became an instrument of political repression that operated until the end of the Second World War. His third and final premiership, cut short by the Taisho Political Crisis, helped define the limits of the genrō's power in the post-Meiji political order.

The Name in Japanese

The name is written 桂太郎 in kanji.

• Kana reading: かつら たろう
• Romaji: Katsura Tarō

The family name is 桂 (Katsura), and the given name is 太郎 (Tarō). Character by character:

• 桂 (かつら, katsura): the katsura tree, a species of tree native to East Asia. The character also refers to the moon, because in traditional Japanese lore a katsura tree is said to grow on the moon. As a family name, it is associated with the Katsura clan, a samurai lineage.
• 太 (た, ta): great, thick, or large. This character conveys size and importance.
• 郎 (ろう, rō): son, or young man. This character commonly appears in male given names and historically indicated a male heir.

The given name 太郎 is a traditional first-son name. It combines "great" and "son" to mean something like "eldest son" or "great son." The full name, read together, is Katsura Tarō.

Legacy

Katsura's legacy is tied to the institutions he helped build and the wars fought under his leadership. The Imperial Japanese Army, which he served as a general and shaped as Minister of War, became the dominant political force in Japan in the decades after his death. The Special Higher Police, created in 1911, remained active until 1945.

His three premierships set a record for longevity that stood until Shinzō Abe surpassed it in the twenty-first century. Katsura's career also exemplified the path from samurai to modern statesman: born in the final decades of the Edo period, he fought in the war that ended the shogunate, studied in Germany, and rose to the highest political office in the land. He died in 1913, less than a year after leaving office for the last time.