Iwakura tomomi biography of mahatma gandhi

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In 1915 Gandhi returned to India.

Religion

He shaved his head and entered the Buddhist clergy, living in retirement in the village of Iwakura north of Kyoto under the religious name Yuzan.

Politics

In 1858, when the senior shogunate official Hotta Masayoshi came to Kyoto to seek imperial sanction for the commercial treaty that had been drawn up between Japan and the United States, the kampaku Kujo Hisatada drafted a reply to be presented in the emperor’s name, which left the responsibility for decisions in such matters in the hands of the shogunate.

Gandhi studied law in London and returned to India in 1891 to practice. He was attended by Erwin Balz, a German doctor attached to Tokyo Imperial University, and Emperor Meiji paid a personal call to his bedside, but he died the same year, before Ito Hirobumi, who had gone to Europe to study constitutional forms of government, had returned to Japan.

Background

Tomomi Iwakura was born in Kyoto on 26 October 1825, he was a son of a member of the lower nobility named Horikawa Yasu- chika. Gandhiji was born in middle class family of Vaishya caste. Gandhi welcomed the idea but his mother was objected to the idea of going abroad. He worked to organize the nobility as a kind of wall of defense surrounding the imperial family, and through his positions as head of the Peers’ Club and director of the office in charge of affairs pertaining to the peerage, he acted as a kind of general supervisor of the nobility.

Even after returning to Kyoto, he failed to recover and passed away at the age of 57. In view of his deteriorating health he was released from the jail in May 1944.   Second World War ended in 1945 and Britain emerged victorious. While Gandhiji was in jail his wife Kasturbai passed away.

iwakura tomomi biography of mahatma gandhi

Gandhiji jumped at the idea and sailed for South Africa in April 1893.   

   It was in South Africa that Gandhiji's transformation from Mohandas to Mahatma took place. Later on in his life, Gandhiji denounced the custom of child marriage and termed it as cruel.

As a further mark of honor, his son Iwakura Tomosada was in 1884 given the title of duke.

Achievements

  • He also maintained a firm opposition to the people’s rights movement, which was coming to prominence at this time, insisting that the power of the emperor was supreme. He was also involved in movements to preserve scenic landscapes and historic sites in the western region of Japan nearby Kyoto.

    After about a week's stay in Durban Gandhiji left for Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, in connection with a lawsuit.    After the outbreak of Second World War in 1939, Gandhiji again became active in the political arena. He was in high school at that time. Gandhiji worked ceaselessly to promote unity between Hindus and Muslims.

    Gandhi served as a medical attendant in this war.). Many Indians renounced their titles and honours, lawyers gave up their practice and students left colleges and schools.