Kōno Hironaka was a politician and cabinet minister in the Empire of Japan.
Background
Kōno was a native of Mutsu Province (modern-day Fukushima Prefecture), where his father, Iwamura Hidetoshi, was a samurai in the service of Miharu Domain, who supplemented his 100 koku income through trade in clothes, sake brewing and wholesale of marine products.
Career
Following the Meiji restoration, he served as an administrator in many locations in northern Japan for the new Meiji government, and became associated with Itagaki Taisuke and the Freedom and People"s Rights Movement. With the Satsuma Rebellion, Kōno resisted attempts to recruit him to the side of Saigō Takamori, but instead joined Itagaki in forming the Aikokusha movement, pushing for the creation of a national assembly. He was leader of the Jiyūtō in Fukushima Prefecture from 1882–1883, during the time of the Fukushima Incident, when conservative forces within the government sought to curb the growing power of the Jiyūtō through illegal means.
Over the course of his career, he migrated from the Rikken Seiyūkai to the Rikken Kokumintō to the Rikken Dōshikai and finally to the Kenseikai.
Kōno was briefly (for a six-day period) Speaker of the Lower House in December 1903, causing an uproar for calling for the impeachment of Prime Minister Katsura Tarō during his inaugural speech in front of Emperor Meiji. In 1909, he supported the Pan-Asian Movement creating a group dedicated to the liberation of Asia from Western colonialism.
From 1915-1916, Kōno was appointed Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce under the Ōkuma Shigenobu administration. Kōno died in 1923 at age74 and his grave is located at the temple of Gokoku-ji in Bunkyo, Tokyo.
Politics
He was one of the founding members of the Jiyūtō political party in 1881.
Membership
During the Boshin War, he fought against his family, whose Miharu Domain remained loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate and which was a member of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei. In 1898, he became a member of the Kenseitō.