Prince Fumimaro Konoe was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1937 to 1939 and from 1940 to 1941. He presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World War II. He also played a central role in transforming his country into a totalitarian state by passing the State General Mobilization Law and founding the Imperial Rule Assistance Association by dissolving all other political parties.
Fumimaro Konoe
Konoe in his 20s
Konoe reading imperial rescript as president of the House of Peers, 1936
Konoe and his first cabinet ministers in 1937
The Kazoku was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. It was formed by merging the feudal lords (daimyō) and court nobles (kuge) into one system modelled after the British peerage. Distinguished military officers, politicians, and scholars were occasionally ennobled until the country's defeat in the Second World War in 1945. The system was abolished with the 1947 constitution, which prohibited any form of aristocracy under it, but kazoku descendants still form the core of the traditional upper class in the country's society, distinct from the nouveau riche.
The House of Peers in session with Emperor Meiji giving a speech. (Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Yōshū Chikanobu, 1890)
Prince Tokugawa Iesato was the first head of the Tokugawa clan after the overthrow of the shogunate, and was President of the House of Peers from 1903-1933. A number of former samurai families became part of the kazoku during the Meiji era.
Marquess Michitsune Koga (1842–1925), a member of the Imperial Family, descending from Emperor Murakami.
The interior of Peers' Club, Tokyo (1912). Unlike Western-style gentlemen's clubs, membership was also open to women.