Etō Shinpei


Etō Shinpei was a Japanese statesman during the early Meiji period, remembered chiefly for his role in the unsuccessful Saga Rebellion.

Early life and Meiji bureaucrat

Etō was born into a crestless and poor samurai family in Yae, in Hizen Province, on the island of Kyushu. He lived near the house of Sagara Chian who also played an influential role in Meiji Japan. In 1848 Etō entered the school of the Nabeshima Clan and soon drew attention as a gifted young man, but after his father lost his employment, he continued his studies in a private school run by Edayoshi Shinyō, an ardent adherent of National Studies. Together with other ambitious young samurai such as Ōkuma Shigenobu, Soejima Taneomi, Ōki Takatō, Shima Yoshitake, Etō joined the Gizai-dōmei established by Edayoshi in 1850. Three years later he wrote a paper, in which he propagated the opening of Japan and a series of plans to gain economic and military strength. After his marriage he worked for the Saga domain.
During the Boshin War to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate, he served as a general in the imperial army.
After the Meiji Restoration, Etō was appointed to a number of posts, including that of Minister of Justice in 1872, and was responsible for drafting Japan's first modern penal code the . In 1873, he became a sangi in the Daijō-kan, but resigned the same year, after the Seikanron proposal made by Saigō Takamori to invade Korea was rejected.

Anti-government agitator and rebel

After resigning from the government, Etō returned home to his native Saga, and gathered together a group of disaffected former samurai who were unhappy with the current regime. He formed the Aikoku Kōtō political party which criticized the government and called for the formation of a national assembly. Receiving little support, he then resorted to armed insurrection, gathering some 3000 followers, attacking a local bank for funds, and capturing government offices. The revolt was quickly suppressed by government forces under Ōkubo Toshimichi, and Etō, along with 13 other ringleaders, was executed. Then their heads were displayed in public. It was the ultimate sanction in Japan.