Ichita Kobashi Explained

Ichita kobashi
Office:16th Mayor of Tokyo
Term Start:28 June 1937
Term End:14 April 1939
Predecessor:Ushizuka Torataro
Successor:Keikichi Yorimoki
Office1:38th Minister of Education
Primeminister1:Hamaguchi Osachi
Term Start1:2 July 1929
Term End1:29 November 1929
Predecessor1:Kazue Shōda
Successor1:Tanaka Ryūzō
Primeminister2:Kiyoura Keigo
Term Start2:7 January 1924
Term End2:11 June 1924
Predecessor2:Motohide Kabayama
Successor2:Egi Tsubasa
Office3:Member of the House of Representatives
Term Start3:1920
Term End3:1930
Office4:22nd Under-Secretary of the Interior
Term Start4:25 April 1918
Term End4:14 June 1922
Predecessor4:Rentaro Mizuno
Successor4:Takeharu Kawamura
Birth Date:25 October 1870
Birth Place:Kumamoto, Japan
Death Date:2 October 1939 (age 68)
Death Place:Tokyo, Japan
Party:Rikken Seiyūkai (1920-1924)
Seiyūhontō (1924-1927)
Rikken Minseitō (1927-1939)
Education:University of Tokyo

Ichita Kobashi (小橋 一太) (25 October 1870  - 2 October 1939) was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who served as the Minister of Education in 1929 and as the 16th Mayor of Tokyo from 1937 to 1939.

Early life

Kobashi was born in Kumamoto, Japan, on 25 October 1870 as the eldest son of Motoo Kobashi, a samurai in the Kumamoto Prefecture. He graduated from Law College of the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1898.

Career

Following his graduation, Kobashi joined the Home Ministry and served as the director general of the Sanitary Affairs Bureau, director general of the Local Affairs Bureau, and director general of the Civil Engineering Bureau before finally assuming the post of Under-Secretary of Home Affairs on 25 April 1918. He became a member of the Rikken Seiyūkai and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1920, serving three consecutive terms.[1]

Kobashi was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Kiyoura Cabinet on 7 January 1924 as a member of Seiyūhontō and held the position until the cabinet dissolved on 11 June 1924. Following his cabinet post in 1926, Kobashi served as the director of general affairs of the Seiyūhontō and as secretary general, before serving as the director of general affairs of the Rikken Minseitō in 1927.

Kobashi's second cabinet position came on 2 July 1929, when he was appointed as the Minister of Education in the Hamaguchi Cabinet. He resigned his position on 29 November 1929, following the Echigo Railway Scandal of which he was later acquitted. Kobashi was thereafter elected as the 16th Mayor of Tokyo on 28 June 1937. He held the position until his resignation on 14 April 1939.[2]

Later life

Kobashi died on 2 October 1939 in Tokyo, three weeks shy of his 69th birthday. He was buried at Tama Cemetery and was posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 小橋一太関係文書 . ndl.go.jp . 1 July 2022 . 10 December 2023.
  2. Web site: KOBASHI Ichita . ndl.go.jp . 2004 . 10 December 2023.