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The Yamashiroya Incident

The Yamashiroya Incident (山城屋事件) was an incident that Yamashiroya Wasuke, a government contractor for the Ministry of the Army, committed suicide when he was unable to repay the public money he had borrowed from the Ministry without collateral in 1872. The public money Yamashiroya had borrowed was approximately 650,000 yen in total, which was an enormous amount of money as much as 1% of the annual national revenue at that time.

Summary

Yamashiroya Wasuke (山城屋和助) became a government contractor of the Ministry of War because he came from Choshu. While he was engaged in overseeing the delivery of military supplies, he borrowed 150,000 dollars of public money from the Ministry of the Army and started to invest in the silk market. The background of this borrowings was the declined price of silver coins kept by the Ministry of Army. The Ministry of the Army lent the public money to him on grounds of fund management. However, his investment ended in failure since the market price of silk in Europe plunged. He borrowed more money from the Ministry of Army and went to France to deal directly with French merchants. In the meantime, a France-based middle commissioner Sameshima Naonobu and an England-based major commissioner Terashima Munenori heard the news that one Japanese was engaging in extravagances and this news was reported to the Foreign Minister Soejima in Japan.

At this time, while Yamagata Aritomo was on the position of supervising imperial guards as the commander, there was a strong dissatisfaction among those guards from Satsuma against Yamagata, who was from Choshu. Moreover, Taneda Masaaki, the accounting manager of Ministry of the Army, heard the news on Yamashiroya and started investigation secretly. When the truth came out that such an enormous sum of public money had been lent, 'without any objection', by the Ministry of the Army, several army officers from Satsuma, including Kirino Toshiaki, launched an investigation thoroughly. In July 1871, Yamagata resigned as a lieutenant general and the commander of imperial guards.

In November 1872, when the Ministry of Justice led by Eto Shinpei was about to start a serious investigation, Yamagata asked Yamashiroya to repay the money he had borrowed. Since Yamashiroya was unable to repay the public money, he committed suicide through disembowelment inside the building of the Ministry of Army. Because all the relevant account books and debt bonds issued by military men from Choshu were burned away then, the truth of the incident was not clarified and the investigation ended with punishment of the accounting manager of the Ministry of Army Funakoshi Mamoru.

One theory goes as follows: There was a conflict between Yamagata who was promoting Conscription Ordinance and opposing military men from Satsuma represented by Kirino. In addition, Kirino relied on Saigo Takamori to play a major role in restraining Yamagata, but on the contrary Saigo appreciated Yamagata and, together with his younger brother Saigō Jūdō, supported him to enact Conscription Ordinance. Kirino's jealousy and hostility against Yamagata was ascribed to the intensified pursuit of this incident. As a matter of fact, Saigo remained opposing Yamagata's resignation until the last moment. Moreover, Saigo sent a letter to Okubo Toshimichi who was traveling abroad as a member of the Iwakura Mission to apologize that he could not protect Yamagata after his resignation (according to the letter from Saigo to Okubo written on August 12, 1872).

In addition, the pursuit by Eto Shinpei who aimed strengthening of authority for the Ministry of Justice also had a great influence on this incident. Eto, finding out that military men from Satsuma had been planning to close the office of Yamashiroya, prevented them and ordered the Ministry of Justice to start an investigation directly.

Relevant timeline

In June 1869, Yamagata went to Europe.

In August 1870, Yamagata returned home. He became Hyobu shoyu (junior assistant minister of the Ministry of Military), which was Jugoi (Junior Fifth Rank).

In July 1871, Yamagata became Hyobu taifu (the Commissioner of War).

1872

In February, on the restructure of Hyobusho (ministry of military) and the establishment of Army, Yamagata became Taifu (vice-minister) of Ministry of Army.

In March, Yamagata became lieutenant general as well as the commander of the imperial guard (the post of the minister was vacant).

In May, Eto became the first minister of justice.

In July, Yamagata resigned his posts as lieutenant general and commander of the imperial guard due to the ongoing internal investigation of the Yamashiroya Incident by army officers. Saigo took over the posts of the marshal and the commander of the imperial guard.

On November 29, Yamashiroya Wasuke committed suicide inside the building of the Ministry of Army.

1873

On January 10, Conscription Ordinance was issued.

In April, Yamagata resigned as vice-minister of Army due to the ongoing internal investigation of the Yamashiroya Incident by Ministry of Justice. On the next day, Goto, Eto and Oki became councilors.

In June, Yamagata became the Minister of Army.

In October, Eto and Soejima resigned as councilors due to Coups of 1873.

References

• Oka, Yoshitake (1958). Yamagata Aritomo: Meiji nihon no shōchō 山県有朋―明治日本の象徴―. Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-413120-0. OCLC 672718899.
• Fujimura, Michio (1961). Yamagata Aritomo 山縣有朋 (Shinsōban ed.). Tōkyō: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan. ISBN 4-642-05059-0. OCLC 23205046.
• Inoue, Kiyoshi (1966). Nihon no Rekishi 20: Meiji Ishin 日本の歴史 20 明治維新. Tōkyō: Chūō Kōronsha. ISBN 4-12-204674-2. OCLC 676570369.
• Mōri, Toshihiko (1979). Meiji Rokunen Seihen 明治六年政変. Tōkyō: Chūō Kōronsha. ISBN 4-12-100561-9. OCLC 994072469.