Miyazaki Toten

• Birth: 1871
• Death: 1922
• Other Names: 宮崎寅蔵　(Miyazaki Torazou)
• Japanese: 宮崎滔天 (Miyazaki Touten)

Miyazaki Tôten was a prominent comrade of Sun Yat-Sen.

Born into a gôshi landlord family of tenant farmers in Kumamoto prefecture, he and his brothers Tamizô and Yazô grew up in difficult conditions, experiencing firsthand the rural impacts of the Meiji government's attempts to rationalize - and monetize - the tax system. As adults all three worked to push for reform, and in particular believed that effecting reform in China was the best way to inspire changes in Japan.

To that end, Tôten worked to infiltrate China and to seek a revolutionary leader to support, who might be able to effect widespread reforms. His initial efforts to enter China via Korea, Siam, and the Philippines were relatively unsuccessful, but once Tôten connected up with Sun Yat-Sen, he remained in service to Sun's movement for the rest of his life.

References

• Marius Jansen, "Japanese Imperialism: Late Meiji Perspectives," in Mark Peattie (ed.), The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1945, Princeton University Press (1984), 74-75.