Ichita kobashi
Ichita kobashi in 1929.
16th Mayor of Tokyo
In office 28 June 1937 – 14 April 1939
Preceded by	Ushizuka Torataro
Succeeded by	Keikichi Yorimoki
38th Minister of Education
In office 2 July 1929 – 29 November 1929
Prime Minister	Hamaguchi Osachi
Preceded by	Kazue Shōda
Succeeded by	Tanaka Ryūzō
25th Chief Cabinet Secretary
In office 7 January 1924 – 11 June 1924
Prime Minister	Kiyoura Keigo
Preceded by	Motohide Kabayama
Succeeded by	Egi Tsubasa
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 1920–1930
22nd Under-Secretary of the Interior
In office 25 April 1918 – 14 June 1922
Preceded by	Rentaro Mizuno
Succeeded by	Takeharu Kawamura
Personal details
Born	25 October 1870 Kumamoto, Japan
Died	2 October 1939 (age 68) Tokyo, Japan
Political party	Rikken Seiyūkai (1920-1924) Seiyūhontō (1924-1927) Rikken Minseitō (1927-1939)
Education	University of Tokyo

Ichita Kobashi (小橋 一太) (25 October 1870 – 2 October 1939) was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who served as the Minister of Education in 1929 and as the 16th Mayor of Tokyo from 1937 to 1939.

Early life

Kobashi was born in Kumamoto, Japan, on 25 October 1870 as the eldest son of Motoo Kobashi, a samurai in the Kumamoto Prefecture. He graduated from Law College of the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1898.

Career

Following his graduation, Kobashi joined the Home Ministry and served as the director general of the Sanitary Affairs Bureau, director general of the Local Affairs Bureau, and director general of the Civil Engineering Bureau before finally assuming the post of Under-Secretary of Home Affairs on 25 April 1918. He became a member of the Rikken Seiyūkai and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1920, serving three consecutive terms.^[1]

The Kiyoura Cabinet in 1924. Kobashi can be seen in the upper left.

Kobashi was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Kiyoura Cabinet on 7 January 1924 as a member of Seiyūhontō and held the position until the cabinet dissolved on 11 June 1924. Following his cabinet post in 1926, Kobashi served as the director of general affairs of the Seiyūhontō and as secretary general, before serving as the director of general affairs of the Rikken Minseitō in 1927.

Kobashi's second cabinet position came on 2 July 1929, when he was appointed as the Minister of Education in the Hamaguchi Cabinet. He resigned his position on 29 November 1929, following the Echigo Railway Scandal of which he was later acquitted. Kobashi was thereafter elected as the 16th Mayor of Tokyo on 28 June 1937. He held the position until his resignation on 14 April 1939.^[2]

Later life

Kobashi died on 2 October 1939 in Tokyo, three weeks shy of his 69th birthday. He was buried at Tama Cemetery and was posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

References