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Kaneko Kentaro

Modern Legislators and Statute Authors

Kaneko Kentaro, born 4 February 1853 in Sawara, Chikuzen Province, present-day Fukuoka, and who died 16 May 1942 in Hayama, Kanagawa, was a Japanese statesman, diplomat and legal scholar who attended the Shuyukan school of Fukuoka Domain from age nine, was selected at nineteen to join the Iwakura Mission to the United States, and enrolled at Harvard University in 1876, studying under the future United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr and earning his law degree in 1878. He served as a secretary in the Genroin from 1880, a member of the Office for Investigation of Institutions from 1884, first secretary of the House of Peers from 1890, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in 1898, Minister of Justice from 1900 to 1901, and a Privy Council member from 1906 until his death. He worked closely with Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi and his fellow drafters Inoue Kowashi and Ito Miyoji on Japan's Meiji Constitution, promulgated by the Emperor in 1889, and Harvard awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1899 in recognition of this constitutional work.

Facts
Role
Statesman, diplomat, and legal scholar in Meiji period Japan 1
Nationality / Jurisdiction
Japanese 2
Born
1853 2
Birth Date
1853-03-13 2
Birthplace
Fukuoka 2
Died
1942 2
Death Date
1942-05-16 2
Place of Death
Hayama 2
Classification
Field of Law
International Law 1
Gender
Male 1
Role
Role (category)
Legal Scholar 1
Role (category)
Diplomat 1
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Kaneko Kentarō (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Full article, gender
    A graduate of Harvard Law School, he drew on his connections in the American legal community over the course of his long career in Japanese government, particularly in his role helping to draft the new Meiji Constitution (Imperial Japanese Constitution).
  • Introduction, role
    Kaneko Kentarō was a statesman, diplomat, and legal scholar in Meiji period Japan.
  • Full article, field of law
    In 1891, Kaneko was elected to the prestigious Institute of International Law, traveling to its general meeting in Geneva the next year as part of his campaigning to revise the unequal treaties Japan had signed during its forced "opening" in the late 1850s.
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2. Wikidata: Kaneko Kentaro
  • Wikidata Q3192621, P27 country of citizenship claim
    P27 (country of citizenship): Japan
  • Wikidata Q3192621, P569 date of birth claim (year)
    P569 (date of birth): 1853
  • Wikidata Q3192621, P569 date of birth claim (full date)
    P569 (date of birth): 1853-03-13
  • Wikidata Q3192621, P570 date of death claim (year)
    P570 (date of death): 1942
  • Wikidata Q3192621, P570 date of death claim (full date)
    P570 (date of death): 1942-05-16
  • Wikidata Q3192621, P19 place of birth claim
    P19 (place of birth): Fukuoka
  • Wikidata Q3192621, P20 place of death claim
    P20 (place of death): Hayama
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