🧑⚖️ Who was Itagaki Taisuke?
Itagaki Taisuke is honoured in the National Diet Building’s Central Hall, alongside Ōkuma Shigenobu and Itō Hirobumi. The three are remembered for helping build the foundations of parliamentary politics in modern Japan. This shift took Japan away from rule by a military government and toward constitutional government. In that story, Itagaki is best known for backing civil rights and calling for a national assembly.
Born into a middle-ranking samurai family in Tosa (now Kōchi Prefecture), Itagaki became a leading figure in the Jiyū Minken Undō (Freedom and People’s Rights Movement). He fought on the imperial side during the Boshin War and was appointed as a sangi (councillor) in 1871. Later, he backed the Seikanron position, which called for strong action against Korea and could have led to a military expedition. However, when the government rejected that policy in 1873, he resigned.
🗓️ Itagaki Taisuke: Political Timeline
- Public Party of Patriots (Aikoku Kōtō, 愛国公党)
Formed: 12 January 1874
Role: Founder / organiser
Aim: Petitioned for the establishment of a national assembly. - Self-Help Society (Risshisha, 立志社)
Formed: 1874
Role: Founder
Aim: Built a local base for the People’s Rights movement and petitions for a national assembly. - Society of Patriots (Aikokusha, 愛国社)
Formed: February 1875
Role: Founder / leader
Aim: Linked local political groups into a wider movement calling for a national assembly. - Liberal Party (Jiyūtō, 自由党)
Formed: 29 October 1881
Role: Party leader
Aim: Pushed for constitutional government and an elected Diet. - Constitutional Liberal Party (Rikken Jiyūtō, 立憲自由党), later renamed Liberal Party (Jiyūtō, 自由党)
Formed: August 1890
Renamed: March 1891
Role: Leader
Note: This is a later parliamentary party that re-used the “Liberal Party” name. - Minister of Home Affairs (Naimu Daijin, 内務大臣)
Appointed: 1896
Context: Served in the second Itō cabinet (and later under the first Ōkuma cabinet). - Constitutional Party (Kenseitō, 憲政党)
Formed: June 1898
Context: Created by the merger of the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō) and the Progressive Party (Shimpotō). - In 1900, he co-founded the Rikken Seiyūkai (Friends of Constitutional Government) with Itō Hirobumi. Soon after, he retired from political life.
🪦 The Gravesite
The Itagaki Taisuke grave is behind Shinagawa Shrine. However, it falls outside the shrine’s official grounds sitting in the mossy grounds of the former Kōgen-in (高源院). Kōgen-in being a sub-temple (tatchū) of the greater Shinagawa Tōkai-ji (品川東海寺). His wife’s grave is to the left of his gravestone. To the right, a stone monument bears the defiant words he shouted during a failed assassination attempt in 1882.
🔪 Assassination Attempts
On April 6, 1882, an attacker named Aihara Shōkei attacked Itagaki as he left a speech hall. With a 27-centimetre dagger, Shōkei stabbed him twice, once on each side of the chest. He also slashed Itagaki’s hands and cheek before police intervened. Despite his injuries, Itagaki famously declared:
“Taisuke may die, but freedom shall never die!”
Another attempt on Itagaki’s life took place during the run-up to the Second House of Representatives election. On 12 February 1892, he arrived in Kobe to campaign, and he left the station area by rickshaw for a speaking venue. At a level crossing on a street in Sannomiya (often identified today with the Motomachi area), a man named Washida Uzō tried to shoot him with a pistol.
However, a bodyguard named Satō Toshizō was walking behind the rickshaw and noticed the danger first. He threw himself in front of the rickshaw and blocked the shot, with a sword in hand. As a result, the attack failed before Washida could fire at close range. Contemporary accounts describe Satō as a former samurai from the old Tottori domain and someone trained in swordsmanship.
🧭 Visitor Information
Address: 3-7-15 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0001
Admission: Free
📍 Where is it?
| what3words | ///uniform.teachers.weekend |
| latitude longitude | 35.6184115 139.7392403 |
| Nearest station(s) | Shinbanba Station (Keikyū Main Line) Kitashinagawa Station (Keikyū Line) |
| Nearest public conveniences | Shinagawa Shrine precincts |
🪧 Show me a sign
Not great. Some of the characters are indistinct.
🖋️ Withervee Says…
It’s not easy to find this small graveyard. It’s behind the Shinagawa Shrine’s Honden (本殿) – the large main shrine building. Take the path to the right of the Honden. Turn left to go behind it. After a short distance, turn right and go down two worn steps.
Given the greatness of the man in his efforts to create a modern democratic Japan, I’m surprised that his grave isn’t grander. However, he does have a monument at his former residence Mt. Azono in Kochi City. Also, there are statues of Itagaki Taisuke in Tokyo. One of them is located inside the National Diet Building. Along with Ito Hirobumi and Okuma Shigenobu the central hall his statue is on one corner of the central hall, the fourth pedestal being empty.
🌳 Site Character
- Lifestyle 生活 (Seikatsu): ❌
- Historical Significance 歴史 (Rekishi): ✔️
- Atmosphere/Natural Features 風土 (Fūdo): ✔️
👥 Who in their right mind would vote for this?
- Political history buffs
- Gravestone detectives
- Freedom-of-speech fans
- Liberal democracy dreamers
- Assassination trivia nerds
📚 Further reading
板垣退助 Japanese Wikipedia It’s a long read…
