The was a cabinet-level ministry in the government of the Empire of Japan from 1881 to 1925. It was briefly recreated as the during World War II.
History The original Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce was created on April 7, 1881, initially under the Meiji Daijō-kan Cabinet, and then re-established under the Meiji Constitution. It combined the Bureaus of Agriculture, Forestry, Natural History and post station maintenance which were formerly directly under the Prime Minister with the Bureau of Commerce formerly under the control of the Ministry of Finance. The new Ministry was tasked by the Meiji oligarchy with improving production of natural resources and promoting the rapid industrialization of Japan. Although nominally its duties included the protection of workers, in reality it served the needs of industry by guaranteeing a stable labor supply.Harari. The politics of labor legislation in Japan. Page 41 On December 25, 1885, with the abolishment of the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce gained the Bureau of Mines and the Bureau of Civil Engineering. On April 1, 1896 a decision was made to denationalize the iron and steel industry. All government-owned steel mills were divested to private enterprise by February 5, 1901.
The Ministry was instrumental in passing the Japanese Factory Act of 1903, which reformed and regulated labor conditions in factories. On April 1, 1925, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commence was divided into the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The division was a result of long-standing acrimony within the ministry between the "commerce" portion of the ministry, which sought expanded overseas trade, and the protectionist "agriculture" portion of the ministry which sought to ban imports of food, especially rice. In the aftermath of the Rice Riots of 1918, expanded imports of rice into Japan financially ruined many farmers, and the inherently conflicting goals of the two halves of the ministry became apparent.
However, during World War II, the Ministry of Munitions, and the absorbed most of the functions of the Ministry of Commerce, and the vestigial remains were merged with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to re-establish the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce on November 1, 1943. In addition to promoting agriculture, the re-formed ministry was also in charge of distribution of rationed goods.
The Ministry was abolished on August 26, 1945, after the surrender of Japan by order of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. In the post-war Showa Constitution, the ministries were again divided into the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of Commerce.
Ministers of Agriculture and Commerce (Meiji-Taisho) Name CabinetFromTo1Tani Tateki 1st Itō 22 December 1885 26 July 18872 Hijikata Hisamoto 1st Itō 26 July 1887 17 September 18873 Kuroda Kiyotaka 1st Itō 17 September 1887 30 April 18884 Inoue Kaoru Kuroda 25 July 1888 23 December 18895 Iwamura Michitoshi1st Yamagata 23 December 1889 17 May 18906 Mutsu Munemitsu 1st Yamagata1st Matsukata 17 May 1890 14 March 18927 Kōno Togama 1st Matsukata 14 March 1892 14 July 18928 Sano Tsunetami 1st Matsukata 14 July 1892 8 August 18929 Gotō Shōjirō2nd Itō 8 August 1892 22 January 189410 Enomoto Takeaki 2nd Itō2nd Matsukata 22 January 1894 29 March 189711 Ōkuma Shigenobu 2nd Matsukata 29 March 1897 6 November 189712 Yamada Nobumichi2nd Matsukata 6 November 1897 12 January 189813 Itō Miyoji3rd Itō 12 January 1898 26 April 189814 Kaneko Kentarō 3rd Itō 26 April 1898 30 June 189815 Ōishi Masami 1st Ōkuma 30 June 1898 8 November 189816 Sone Arasuke2nd Yamagata 8 November 1898 19 October 190017 Hayashi Yūzō 4th Itō 19 October 1900 2 June 190118 Hirata Tosuke 1st Katsura 2 June 1901 17 July 190319 Kiyoura Keigo 1st Katsura 17 July 1903 22 September 190320 Kiyoura Keigo1st Katsura 22 September 1903 7 January 190621 Matsuoka Yasukowa 1st Saionji 7 January 190614 July 190822 Ōura Kanetake 2nd Katsura 14 July 1908 30 August 191123 Makino Nobuaki 2nd Saionji 30 August 1911 21 December 191224 Nakashōji Ren 3rd Katsura 21 December 1912 20 February 191325 Yamamoto Tatsuo 1st Yamamoto 20 February 1913 16 April 191426 Ōura Kanetake 2nd Ōkuma 16 April 1914 7 January 191527 Kōno Hironaka 2nd Ōkuma 7 January 1915 9 October 191628 Nakashōji Ren Terauchi 9 October 1916 29 September 191829 Yamamoto Tatsuo Hara Takahashi 29 September 1918 12 June 192230 Arai Kentarō Katō 12 June 1922 2 September 192331 Den Kenjirō 2nd Yamamoto 2 September 1923 24 December 192332 Okano Keijirō 2nd Yamamoto 24 December 19237 January 192433 Maeda Toshisada Kiyoura 7 January 192411 June 192434 Takahashi Korekiyo Katō 11 June 19241 April 1925
Ministers of Agriculture and Commerce (World War II) Name CabinetFromTo1Tatsunosuke Yamazaki Tōjō 1 November 1943 19 February 19442Nobuya Uchida Tōjō 19 February 1944 22 July 19443Toshio Shimada Koiso 22 July 1944 7 April 19454Tadaatsu Ishiguro Suzuki 7 April 1945 17 August 19455Sengoku Kotaro Higashikuni 17 August 1945 26 August 1945
See also Agriculture in the Empire of Japan
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