The Exhibition of the Seven Prime Ministers
Yamaguchi Prefecture has produced.
 

Kenkabo Inoue and a Satirical Japanese Poem
 
November 2 〜 December 10,2006
The Hagi Museum　Project-based Exhibition Room
 

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The Seven Prime Ministers

Hirobumi Ito (1841〜1909)
　Patriot in the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, and politician and senior statesperson in the Meiji period.He learned at Shokasonjuku school and went to Britain illegally to study.After returning to Japan he was earnestly engaged in overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate.In the new Meiji government he held some important posts and drafted the Meiji Constitution. He became Japan’s first prime minister to guide Japan into a modern nation in the formative years.He formed the cabinet four times.

Aritomo Yamagata (1838〜1922)

　Patriot in the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, and politician and army general in the Meiji and Taisho periods.He was a student of Yoshida and a key figure in the movement to overthrow the shogunate.He is credited with laying the foundation of Japan’s modern military.He twice served as prime minister.

Taro Katsura (1847〜1913)

　Army general and politician in the Meiji period.He learned at the domain school.He played an active role in the Boshin war.He became prime minister three times from the Meiji period to the Taisho period.He made efforts to conclude a few important treaties such as the Anglo-Japanese alliance and the annexation of Korea.

Masatake Terauchi (1852〜1919)

　Army general and politician.He served as army minister in the first Katsura cabinet during the Russo-Japanese war and remained in the post through several cabinets.He was appointed the first governor general of Korea and directed its annexation by Japan.

Giichi Tanaka (1864〜1929)

　Military man and politician in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods.During the Sino-Japanese war, he served under Yamagata Aritomo in Manchuria.Distinguished Hagi native Giichi Tanaka eventually went on to hold the posts of minister of army and president of the political party Seiyukai.He became prime minister in 1927.

Nobusuke Kishi (1896〜1987)

　Bureaucrat and politician in the Showa period.As prime minister he promoted revision of the United States-Japan Security Treaty for the purpose of restoring independent diplomacy for Japan and cementing close relations with the United States.He formed the cabinet twice.He was an elder brother of Eisaku Sato.He won the United Nations peace prize.

Eisaku Sato (1901〜1975)

　Politician in the Showa period.He became prime minister and set the record for the longest continuous tenure in Japan.He counted among his diplomatic accomplishments the normalization of relations with South Korea and the reversion of Okinawa from the United States to Japanese administration.He was awarded a Nobel prize for peace in 1974.
 
 
Kenkabo Inoue (1870〜1934)

Senryu
a satirical Japanese poem containing seventeen syllables written in 5-7-5 meter. Senryu aims at witty satire.

　Kenkabo Inoue was a literary man in the Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa periods.He was born at Emukai, Hagi as the first son of Kichibe Inoue, a follower of the Mori clan.His first name was Koichi and and his pen name was Kenkabo or Shuken.He was self-taught and became a primary school teacher and later a journalist.In the thirty-sixth year of the Meiji period, he went up to Tokyo and found a position in the Nippon Newspaper Company.He wished to make a reform of satirical poems and wrote his poems in the newspaper.He organized a satirical poem society and started to publish a bulletin.He became a great master of satirical poems whose themes were from current events, society, and life.These poems broke new ground in a literary society.He was called “the Father of a new satirical poem.”His wife was born at Hijiwara, Hagi and learned about satirical poems.She would prove to be a very helpful partner later on in his writings.In 1934, he died in his sixty-fifth calendar year.In the thirty-third year of the Showa period, his wife died in her ninetieth calendar year.He and his wife were buried at the Kenchoji temple in Kamakura city.

From his words about “ New Senryu”

　My principle is based on democracy, and liberalism.I simply make it a point that we have no distinction of rank or class except the Emperor as man.

　 I take it for granted that people in general compose poems and recite the poems of their own.It will be truly popular art, and a popular poem, I think.
Senryu
The reading of the senryu above.
The translation of the senryu above.

Doshirito suwaru ichiman nisen jaku.
With a dignified air
There sits an object
Twelve thousand feet in height.
Notes : suwaru = to sit,　ichiman nisen jaku = twelve thousand feet
 
Please think about the next question.What do you suppose the object above is？
 
The answer is Mt. Fuji.
 
 
■Opening Hours 9:00〜17:00 （Last admission 16:30）
■Open Everyday
■Addmission fees Adults-500yen　
College,Senior High School University Students-300yen
Primary & Junior High School Students-100yen
20% discount for a group consisting of at least 30 people and disabled people.
■One-year Pass Adults-1500yen　
College,Senior High School University Students-900yen
Primary & Junior High School Students-300yen
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 The Hagi Museum　TEL:0838-25-6447
http://www.city.hagi.yamaguchi.jp/hagihaku/
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