Hokkaidō Development Commission
The Hokkaidō Development Commission (
Background[edit]
During the Edo period, the Matsumae Domain was responsible for overseeing Japanese territory and trade with the local Ainu in Ezo (the area covered by the term extending beyond what is now Hokkaidō into Karafuto and the Chishima Islands), other than for two periods (1799–1821, and again from 1855), when the bakufu assumed direct control in the face of increasing Russian interest in the region.[2][3] Following the Meiji Restoration, in the fourth month of 1868, the new government established the Hakodate Saibansho (
History[edit]
In the aftermath of the Battle of Hakodate, and following on from the return of the domains, the Development Commission was established in the seventh month of Meiji 2 (1869).[6] Later that year, it oversaw the naming of Hokkaidō and Karafuto.[4] From its establishment in the second month of 1870 until its disbandment in the eighth month of 1871, the Karafuto Kaitakushi (
Initiatives[edit]
The Development Commission encouraged settlers to come, an offer taken up by tondenhei in their thousands, albeit at the expense of the Ainu.[7][8] Outlays in the ten years from 1872 totalled some twenty million yen, spending included that on the island's road and railway infrastructure, the opening of coal mines, new farming methods, and a range of other enterprises included those relating to beer (the precursor to the Sapporo Beer Company), fishing, canneries, hemp, sugar, and lumber.[7] The commission also founded Sapporo Agricultural College, now Hokkaido University.[8] Establishing its head office in Sapporo, which it helped develop as the island's capital, branch offices were initially set up in 1872 in Hakodate, Nemuro, Urakawa, Sōya, and Karafuto, replaced by those in Hakodate and Nemuro in 1876.[6][7] These administrative units would in 1882 become Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro Prefectures.[6]
Personnel[edit]
The Development Commission was first headed by Nabeshima Naomasa, former daimyō of Saga Domain, although he soon resigned on grounds of age, Higashikuze Michitomi taking his place.[4] Former Deputy Director (
See also[edit]
- Former Hokkaidō Government Office
- Hokkaido Museum
- Hokkaidō Heritage
- Treaty of Shimoda
- Matsuura Takeshirō
- List of Historic Sites of Japan (Hokkaidō)
- List of Cultural Properties of Japan - historical materials (Hokkaidō)
References[edit]
- ^ "Guide" (PDF). Historical Village of Hokkaido. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ えぞ【
蝦夷 】 [Ezo]. Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (in Japanese). Shōgakukan. 2000–2002. - ^
北海道 [Hokkaidō]. Kokushi Daijiten (in Japanese). Yoshikawa Kōbunkan吉川弘文館 . 1979–1997. - ^ a b c d Iwao Seiichi; et al., eds. (1982). "Hokkaidō kaitakushi". Dictionnaire historique du Japon (in French). Vol. VIII (Lettre H). Kinokuniya. p. 34.
- ^
箱 館 奉行 [Hakodate bugyō]. Kokushi Daijiten (in Japanese). Yoshikawa Kōbunkan吉川弘文館 . 1979–1997. - ^ a b c d
開拓 使 [Kaitakushi]. Kokushi Daijiten (in Japanese). Yoshikawa Kōbunkan吉川弘文館 . 1979–1997. - ^ a b c d e f
開拓 使 [Hokkaido Development Commission]. Encyclopedia Nipponica (in Japanese). Shōgakukan. 2001. - ^ a b c d e f g "Kaitakushi
開拓 使 / Hokkaidō Colonization Office". Encyclopedia of Japan (in Japanese). Kodansha. 1993. - ^ a b Mieczkowski, Bogdan; Mieczkowski, Seiko (1974). "Horace Capron and the Development of Hokkaido a Reappraisal". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 67 (5). University of Illinois Press: 487–504. JSTOR 40191142.
- ^ Walker, Brett L. (2004). "Meiji Modernization, Scientific Agriculture, and the Destruction of Japan's Hokkaido Wolf". Environmental History. 9 (2). Oxford University Press: 248–274. doi:10.2307/3986086. JSTOR 3986086.
- ^ Siddle, Richard M. (1996). Race, Resistance and the Ainu of Japan. Routledge. p. 103. ISBN 978-0415132282.
- ^ Beauchamp, Edward R.; Iriye, Akira, eds. (2019). Foreign Employees In Nineteenth Century Japan. Routledge. pp. 229–239. ISBN 978-0367014230.