23 Facts About Tanzan Ishibashi

Tanzan Ishibashi was a Japanese journalist and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1956 to 1957.

From 1946 to 1947, Tanzan Ishibashi served as finance minister under Shigeru Yoshida.

Tanzan Ishibashi was elected into the National Diet in 1947, but was purged for openly opposing the US occupation policies; he returned to the Diet in 1952, after which he allied with Ichiro Hatoyama and served as his minister of international trade and industry.

Tanzan Ishibashi succeeded Hatoyama as prime minister in 1956, simultaneously serving as director of the Defense Agency, but resigned soon after due to ill health.

Tanzan Ishibashi was born in the Shibanihonenoki district of Azabu ward, Tokyo in 1884, the eldest son of Sugita Tansei, a Nichiren Buddhist priest and the 81st head of Kuon-ji temple in Yamanashi prefecture.

Tanzan Ishibashi, who took on his mother's surname, would later become a Nichiren priest himself.

Tanzan Ishibashi studied philosophy and graduated from Waseda University's literature department in 1907.

Tanzan Ishibashi worked as a journalist at the Mainichi Shimbun for a while.

Tanzan Ishibashi had a liberal political view and was one of the most consistent proponents of individualism during the Taisho Democracy movement.

Tanzan Ishibashi was one of the rare personalities who opposed Japanese imperialism.

However, Tanzan Ishibashi declined, and instead accepted a post of "advisor" to the newly formed Liberal Party.

Tanzan Ishibashi then served as Minister of Finance in Shigeru Yoshida's first cabinet from 1946 to 1947.

Tanzan Ishibashi was elected to the Diet for the first time in the April 1947 general election, representing Shizuoka's second district, but less than one month later he was purged and forced to resign for having openly opposed US Occupation policies.

In 1953, Hatoyama became prime minister, and Tanzan Ishibashi was appointed Minister of Industry.

Around this time, Tanzan Ishibashi became known as a supporter of revising Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and remilitarizing Japan.

At first Nobusuke Kishi was considered the most likely candidate, but Tanzan Ishibashi allied himself with another candidate, Mitsujiro Ishii, and won the election, becoming the new Prime Minister of Japan.

Shigeru Yoshida had secured the peace treaty which ended the Occupation, Hatoyama had negotiated the resumption of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and now Tanzan Ishibashi stated that his main objective would be resuming diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

Tanzan Ishibashi signaled that he would endeavor to take a cooperative approach to the political opposition, resulting in high public approval ratings.

Tanzan Ishibashi became sick and resigned two months later, with Kishi taking over as prime minister.

Tanzan Ishibashi opposed Kishi's efforts to force through a revised version of the US-Japan Security Treaty in 1960, which he felt were too extreme.

When Kishi had opposition lawmakers physically removed from the Diet by police and rammed the new treaty through on May 19,1960, Tanzan Ishibashi was one of several LDP faction bosses who boycotted the vote in protest.

Tanzan Ishibashi remained a major figure in Japan's ongoing efforts to engage with the People's Republic of China, making a personal visit to China in 1963.

Tanzan Ishibashi's views were based on new liberalism, individualism and feminism.