Hamao Arata

Viscount was a Japanese official and educator from the Meiji and Taishō periods, who served as President of the Privy Council from 1924 to 1925. He was a significant figure in the early development of the University of Tokyo.

Hamao hailed from Toyooka, Hyōgo. He was an official in the Ministry of Education and an academic administrator, serving twice as the president of Tokyo Imperial University and once as Minister of Education. He later served as a courtier, supervising the household and education of the future Emperor Hirohito.

Biography Hamao Arata was born on 12 May 1849 to a samurai family of the Toyooka Domain in Tajima Province. After the Meiji Restoration, he studied at the Keio Gijuku. He entered the Ministry of Education in 1872, before being sent to study in the United States for a year. After returning to Japan he served as a school principal.

The University of Tokyo, then simply the Imperial University, was founded in 1877, and Hamao became an assistant professor, becoming the right-hand man to its first president Katō Hiroyuki, his countryman from Tajima Province. Hamao later became chief of the Specialised Education Bureau in the Ministry of Education.

In 1914, he was appointed Grand Master of Crown Prince's Household (東宮大夫, Togu no Daibu). As such he supervised the education of the young Crown Prince Hirohito, concurrently serving as vice president of the palace school established especially for his education, with the revered Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō as president. Hamao opposed the plan to have the Crown Prince undertake a European tour. Hamao was removed from his position in November 1921. At the same time he was elevated to viscount in the nobility.

Hamao became vice president of the Privy Council in 1922 and was promoted to president two years later. Hamao exercised the functions of Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan after the resignation of Hirata Tosuke, before Makino Nobuaki was appointed on the same day. He died on 25 September 1925

Family Viscount Shirō Hamao (1896–1935) - A novelist and lawyer. Born Shirō Katō, the grandson of Arata's benefactor Hiroyuki Katō, he later became an adopted son of Arata, and succeeded to the viscountcy. Minoru Hamao (1925–2006) - The second son of Shirō, and an instructor and the Chamberlain of Crown Prince Akihito (later the 125th Emperor of Japan). Stephen Fumio Hamao (1930–2007) - The third son of Shirō, and a Catholic cardinal.