Background
Miyoji Itō was born on 7 May 1837 in Nagasaki.
伊東 巳代治
Miyoji Itō was born on 7 May 1837 in Nagasaki.
He took up Western studies and English.
In 1873 was appointed an official interpreter of Hyogo Prefecture. Through the introduction of Kanda Takahira, the governor of Hyogo Prefecture, he became acquainted with the statesman Ito Hirobumi, who recognized his talents and appointed him to a post in the Ministry of Public Works. He accompanied Ito Hirobumi when the latter went to Europe to study constitutional systems, and after his return to Japan was in 1884 made a secretary in the Executive Council. In 1889 he moved to the post of chief secretary in the Privy Council. During this period he participated in the drawing up of the Meiji Constitution. He served as private secretary to Ito Hirobumi when the latter formed the first cabinet with himself as prime minister. He served in the second cabinet as chief secretary and in the third cabinet as minister of agriculture and commerce. In addition, for thirteen years beginning in 1891 he was president of the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun.
In 1895 he was sent to Chefoo in China in connection with the ratification of the treaty that ended the Sino-Japanese War and in 1899 became an advisor to the Privy Council.
Referring to himself as a “guardian of the Constitution,” he became associated with the Seiyukai headed by Ito Hirobumi. In 1922 he urged that Japan retain its troops in Siberia, in 1927 played a part in bringing down the Wakatsuki cabinet because of the financial crisis, and as an advisor to the Japanese delegation to the London Disarmament Conference in 1930 advocated a strong stand on the part of Japan. In addition to these activities in the political arena, he served as vice-president of a group set up in 1903 to study the imperial system and played a role in revising and formulating the regulations for the imperial household.
