# Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce

The Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce or Trade (農商務省, Nō-shōmu-shō) was a cabinet-level ministry in the government of the Empire of Japan from 1881 to 1925. It was briefly recreated as the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce (農商省, Nōshō-shō) 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. 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, Ministry of Transport and Communications [ja] and the Planning Board [ja] 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 | Cabinet | From | To |
| 1 | Tani Tateki | 1st Itō | 22 December 1885 | 26 July 1887 |
| 2 | Hijikata Hisamoto | 1st Itō | 26 July 1887 | 17 September 1887 |
| 3 | Kuroda Kiyotaka | 1st Itō | 17 September 1887 | 30 April 1888 |
| 4 | Inoue Kaoru | Kuroda | 25 July 1888 | 23 December 1889 |
| 5 | Iwamura Michitoshi | 1st Yamagata | 23 December 1889 | 17 May 1890 |
| 6 | Mutsu Munemitsu | 1st Yamagata 1st Matsukata | 17 May 1890 | 14 March 1892 |
| 7 | Kōno Togama | 1st Matsukata | 14 March 1892 | 14 July 1892 |
| 8 | Sano Tsunetami | 1st Matsukata | 14 July 1892 | 8 August 1892 |
| 9 | Gotō Shōjirō | 2nd Itō | 8 August 1892 | 22 January 1894 |
| 10 | Enomoto Takeaki | 2nd Itō 2nd Matsukata | 22 January 1894 | 29 March 1897 |
| 11 | Ōkuma Shigenobu | 2nd Matsukata | 29 March 1897 | 6 November 1897 |
| 12 | Yamada Nobumichi | 2nd Matsukata | 6 November 1897 | 12 January 1898 |
| 13 | Itō Miyoji | 3rd Itō | 12 January 1898 | 26 April 1898 |
| 14 | Kaneko Kentarō | 3rd Itō | 26 April 1898 | 30 June 1898 |
| 15 | Ōishi Masami | 1st Ōkuma | 30 June 1898 | 8 November 1898 |
| 16 | Sone Arasuke | 2nd Yamagata | 8 November 1898 | 19 October 1900 |
| 17 | Hayashi Yūzō | 4th Itō | 19 October 1900 | 2 June 1901 |
| 18 | Hirata Tosuke | 1st Katsura | 2 June 1901 | 17 July 1903 |
| 19 | Kiyoura Keigo | 1st Katsura | 17 July 1903 | 22 September 1903 |
| 20 | Kiyoura Keigo | 1st Katsura | 22 September 1903 | 7 January 1906 |
| 21 | Matsuoka Yasukowa | 1st Saionji | 7 January 1906 | 14 July 1908 |
| 22 | Ōura Kanetake | 2nd Katsura | 14 July 1908 | 30 August 1911 |
| 23 | Makino Nobuaki | 2nd Saionji | 30 August 1911 | 21 December 1912 |
| 24 | Nakashōji Ren | 3rd Katsura | 21 December 1912 | 20 February 1913 |
| 25 | Yamamoto Tatsuo | 1st Yamamoto | 20 February 1913 | 16 April 1914 |
| 26 | Ōura Kanetake | 2nd Ōkuma | 16 April 1914 | 7 January 1915 |
| 27 | Kōno Hironaka | 2nd Ōkuma | 7 January 1915 | 9 October 1916 |
| 28 | Nakashōji Ren | Terauchi | 9 October 1916 | 29 September 1918 |
| 29 | Yamamoto Tatsuo | Hara Takahashi | 29 September 1918 | 12 June 1922 |
| 30 | Arai Kentarō | Katō | 12 June 1922 | 2 September 1923 |
| 31 | Den Kenjirō | 2nd Yamamoto | 2 September 1923 | 24 December 1923 |
| 32 | Okano Keijirō | 2nd Yamamoto | 24 December 1923 | 7 January 1924 |
| 33 | Maeda Toshisada | Kiyoura | 7 January 1924 | 11 June 1924 |
| 34 | Takahashi Korekiyo | Katō | 11 June 1924 | 1 April 1925 |

## Ministers of Agriculture and Commerce (World War II)

| | Name | Cabinet | From | To |
| 1 | Tatsunosuke Yamazaki | Tōjō | 1 November 1943 | 19 February 1944 |
| 2 | Nobuya Uchida | Tōjō | 19 February 1944 | 22 July 1944 |
| 3 | Toshio Shimada | Koiso | 22 July 1944 | 7 April 1945 |
| 4 | Tadaatsu Ishiguro | Suzuki | 7 April 1945 | 17 August 1945 |
| 5 | Sengoku Kotaro | Higashikuni | 17 August 1945 | 26 August 1945 |