By examining with whom and how frequently Okubo Toshimichi met with different people during the December 1867 (Keio 3)-March 1877 (Meiji 10) period, the author has come to the following conclusions about Okubo's political relationships. First, his political relations with court nobles and feudal lords (daimyo) who had held high places in the traditional hierarchy of status and authority, including Iwakura Tomomi and Sanjo Sanetomi, became gradually estranged. The decline of the influence of nobles and feudal lords in politics and the contrasting rise of Okubo's influence can be regarded as causes of that trend. Second, Okubo's relations with those who came from the same Kagoshima clan were very intimate throughout this period. After around January 1876, however, he came to rely slightly less on these relations, because with his rise in politics it became more and more possible for him to win over competent officials directly without using intermediaries based on factional ties. Third, those who came from the Yamaguchi, Saga and Kochi clans worked in cooperation with Okubo during the period of the Boshin Wars. After the Boshin Wars antagonism between Okubo and Kido Takayoshi increased. At the same time opposition to the government led by these two men increased from those outside the government. Many men from these three clans played important roles in this arena of political rivalry, and it seems that the inclination towards supporting Okubo was comparatively strong among those from Saga compared to the other two clans. As his relations with the Kido group improved from around December 1870 and the centralization of the government increased, the number of officials from the three clans who attempted to secure closer relations with Okubo increased gradually. However, this trend was also influenced by Okubo's rivalry with the Kido group, the Saigo group and others in the government. Especially after the debate on the expedition to Korea, the status of Okubo rose while the strength of those who had opposed him declined and officials from the three clans tried to consolidate their relations with Okubo. Fourth, clans other than Kagoshima, except for the above-mentioned three, had relatively few persons of importance in the government. Few from such clans played important roles in the political rivalries after the Boshin Wars to 1871. On the whole the relationships between Okubo and those from such clans were not intimate. But as his political status rose rapidly after the expedition to Korea debate, many of them developed closer relationships with him as officials in the middle rank. Fifth, those who had intimate political relations with Okubo shifted, from those who held a high rank in pre-Restoration organizations to those in lower ranks.
抄録全体を表示