Enomoto Takeaki
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Enomoto Takeaki (榎本 武揚 Enomoto Takeaki, August 25, 1836–August 26, 1908) was a Japanese Navy admiral faithful to the Tokugawa Shogunate, who fought against the new Meiji government until the end of the Boshin War, but later served in the government.
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Studies in Europe
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Enomoto started his navy career by entering the newly formed Naval Training School in Nagasaki. He was then sent for five years to the Netherlands to study Western naval techniques. He reportedly became fluent in both the Dutch and English languages.
He returned to Japan onboard the Kaiyō Maru, a state-of-the-art steam warship purchased from the Netherlands by the shogun government. Upon his return, Enomoto Takeaki was promoted to Kaigun Fukusosai (海軍副総裁), the second highest rank in the Tokugawa Shogunate Navy, at the age of 31.
"The last loyalist"
In 1868, when the Meiji government defeated the forces of the Shogun and occupied Edo, Enomoto refused to deliver his warships to the government, and escaped to Hakodate with the whole Shogun fleet and a handful of French military advisers and their leader Jules Brunet. His fleet, made of eight steam warships, was the strongest in Japan at the time.
They hoped to found a state reigned by Tokugawa family in Hokkaido, but the Meiji government refused their request. In 25 December, they declared the foundation of the Republic of Ezo and elected Enomoto as president.
The next year, the Meiji Governmental Army and Navy invaded Hokkaido and defeated the former Shogunate Army and Navy of the Republic. On 18 May 1869 the Republic gave in, and Hokkaido accepted the Meiji Emperor's rule.
The Meiji politician
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After three years in prison, Enomoto was forgiven for the crime in 1872 and appointed as the government official of the Hokkaido agency. In 1874, he was promoted to Vice Admiral of the newly established Imperial Japanese Navy, and dispatched to Russia as Minister Plenipotentiary.
He successively held several ministry positions in the government, and was especially active in promoting Japanese expansionism through settler colonies in the Pacific Ocean and South and Central America.
He died in 1908 at the age 71.
See also
References
- End of the Bakufu and restoration in Hakodate (Japanese 函館の幕末・維新) ISBN 4120016994ja:榎本武揚