Shidehara Tan (幣原坦)
Tan SHIDEHARA (October 12, 1870 - June 29, 1953) was a historian and an education administrator. His home town was Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture. His childhood name was Tokujiro. And his name "Tan" could be read "Taira".
Biography and Personal Profile
Tan studied Japanese history in the department of literature at the University of Tokyo after graduating from the Yamanashi Prefectural Kofu Daiichi High School and other schools. He became the principal of the Hiroshima Higher Normal School in 1913, after serving several positions including an instructor at Tokyo Higher Normal School, an advisor in the Korean Empire, a supervisor in the Ministry of Education, and a professor at the University of Tokyo. He diligently worked to establish the Taipei Imperial University and, upon its establishment, was appointed its first president. He became the first director of the Konan Renseiin in 1942 and then became a member of the Japanese Privy Council in 1946.
His professional studies focused on Korean history, but he was most commonly known as a bureaucrat and an educator. He died on June 29, 1953.
Keibatsu (the Blood connection)
Tan's second daughter, Sumie, was married to Yoshimasa KOZAI who was the oldest son of Yoshinao KOZAI, an agronomist. Yoshihide KOZAI, an astronomer, was the oldest son of Yoshimasa and Sumie, and the grandson of Tan SHIDEHARA. Tan's younger brother was Kijuro SHIDEHARA, a politician who was a diplomatic, and Kijuro's wife, Masako, was the fourth daughter of Yataro IWASAKI, the founder of Mitsubishi Zaibatsu (a financial clique or group, or company syndicate). Michitaro, the oldest son of Kijuro and Masako, was a scholar who served as a professor at Dokkyo University. It can be said that the SHIDEHARA family had kinship ties with both the IWASAKI family--the founders of Mitsubishi--and the KOZAI family.
His literary works
"Nantoenkakushiron", published by Fuzanbo, 1899
"Nichirokannokankoku", published by Hokubunkan, 1905
"Kankokuseisoshi", published by Sanseido, 1907
"Gakkoron", published by Dobunkan, 1909
"Sekaishokan", published by Hobunkan, 1912
"Shokuminchi kyoiku", published by Dobunkan,1912
"Manshukan", published by Hobunkan, 1916
"Chosenkyoikuron", published by Rokumeikan, 1919
"Chosenshiwa", published by Fuzanbo, 1924
"Sekainohenkanwomiru", published by Fuzanbo, 1926
Nanpobunkanokensetsu", published by Fuzanbo, 1938
"Daitowanoseiiku", published by Toyokeizaishinposha, 1941
Kowanoshuyo", published by Meisedo, 1941
"Kyokutobunnkanokoryu", by Sekishoin, 1949
"Bunkanokensetsu Tan SHIDEHARA 60 years of memoirs", Yoshikawakobunkan, 1953