Ozaki Saburo (尾崎三良)
Saburo OZAKI (March 3, 1842 - October 13, 1918) was a Kenin (retainer) of the Sanjo family at the end of Edo period. He worked for the Meiji Government and continued to serve in various positions such as Genroin gikan (a councilor of Chamber of Elders or Senate) and as the Director-General of Cabinet Legislation Bureau. His postmortem name (imina) was Morishige. Another name for him was Uta TODA. Although his daughter married Yukio Ozaki, he had no direct blood relationship with Yukio OZAKI.
Career
He was born as the third son of Ninnajinomiya Shodaibu (aristocracy lower than Kugyo) Moriyuki WAKABAYASHI in Saiin-mura, Kadono District (present day Ukyo Ward, Kyoto City), the suburbs of Kyoto. However, he was separated from his parents by death and became an adopted child of the Ozaki family; then he served the Karasuma and Reizei families, got the attention of Sanetomi SANJO, and became Kenin (a retainer) of the Sanjo family.
He accompanied the seven nobles of decline (so called "Shichikyo-ochi") and went down to the domain of Choshu and then to Dazaifu; later he called himself Uta TODA and acted as a vehicle of communication for Sanjo with Takamori SAIGO and other members of Sonnno-joi-ha (a group of activists who admired the Emperor and hated foreigners, advocating the need for expelling them from Japan) in various regions of Japan. When he went down to Nagasaki City by the order of SANJO in 1867, he formed a friendship with Ryoma SAKAMOTO and Nobuyuki NAKAJIMA, discussed a plan for Taisei Hokan (transfer of power back to the Emperor), and proposed the draft plan to Tomomi IWAKURA. It was the sanshoku system (literally, three-office organization system) issued later that was proposed at that time.
Although SANJO returned to the imperial court after the death of Ryoma, Saburo OZAKI wished to study abroad as he had been interested in what he heard from Ryoma about foreign countries. Having been aware of the wish, Sanetomi SANJO gave an order for him to go to England as an attendant for Sanetomi's heir Kinkyo SANJO, who was a son of Sanetomi's elder brother and was adopted but parted later, for overseas education. He went to England in 1868. He studied diligently in England while learning English from the basics taught by Masataka KAWASE, and later, he finally came to become an auditing student of the laws of England at the University of Oxford. Later, he took care of Sanefumi KAWABATA, a younger brother of Sanetomi, for studying in England.
When he knew that the Iwakura Mission arrived in the United States of America in 1871, he went over to the United States and saw Takayoshi KIDO and let Takayoshi KIDO agree to the opinion that it was too early to revise the treaty. In 1873 he went back to Japan at the request of KIDO and served at the Council of State, being responsible for the formation of legislation. In 1880, he went to Saint Petersburg as the first secretary at the resident office in Russia together with Sakimitsu YANAGIWARA, who was an envoy. In the following year, he was ordered to return to Japan and served successively in various positions such as great secretary at the Council of State and as naimu daijo (the third highest post in the Home Ministry); thereafter, he became the councilor of the senate in 1885, taking part in the discussion of the draft Constitution of the Empire of Japan.
When the Imperial Diet was inaugurated in 1890, he was elected as a member of the House of Peers by Imperial command, and he assumed a post of the Director-General of Cabinet Legislation Bureau in the first Matsukata cabinet that was formed in the following year. Later, he supported the formation of Teikokuzaiseikakushin kai (conference on reform of imperial financial affairs), which was organized by Ukichi TAGUCHI. He was baronized in 1896. He became the imperial court councilor in 1907. In his later years, he became a member of the committee for compilation of historical materials on the Meiji Restoration in the Ministry of Education.
Anecdotes
Despite the social success he achieved, he never forgot the kindness he had been shown by Sanetomi SANJO, and he resisted to the very end moves to appoint Sanjo to the ceremonial post of Naidaijin (Minister of the interior) upon the establishment of a cabinet system, while Hirofumi ITO was to be appointed Japan's first prime minister. He continued to orchestrate the political reinstatement of SANJO together with Michitomi HIGASHIKUZE.
As he participated in preparation of the draft of Shinbunshi Jorei (Press Regulations) and Zamboritsu (the Defamation Law), press expressed a deep resentment against him and denounced him as kokuri, an unsparing official.
Hoan jorei (regulations for the preservation of law and order) is also said to have been drafted by Saburo OZAKI; however, due to this, his old friend Nobuyuki NAKAJIMA was captured and exiled from Tokyo. Also exiled was Yukio OZAKI, who later married Theodora, a daughter of Saburo OZAKI and his English wife.