The Talopedia

Nariyoshi Miyagi

Nariyoshi Miyagi (宮城 成義; born June 9, 1870) is a Nichirian diplomat and former military officer serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Shogun Masashi Miyamoto. Miyagi studied political science at Kanagawa National University before receiving a commission in the Shogunate Ground Corps, in which he completed twenty years of active service. His postings included an assignment as military attaché to the Xing Empire, where he acquired fluency in Zhengyu and a working familiarity with Hezhouan philosophical and diplomatic traditions. He retired from active duty in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of the Great War, and entered the civilian diplomatic service.

After more than a decade in foreign postings, Miyagi's knowledge of Zhengyu and culture drew the attention of the Shogunal government during the Tōhara Conference of March 1926, which normalized relations between Nichirin and Guandong, the successor state of the Xing Empire. Shogun Masashi Miyamoto appointed him Deputy Chief Liaison Officer under Akane Shikinami-Hoffmann on June 21, 1926, the same day the position of Chief Liaison Officer was established. He succeeded Marshal-Admiral Suiren Makinami as Minister of Foreign Affairs on March 20, 1928. Within the diplomatic service, Miyagi's communication style has been described as compressed, metaphor-laden, and habitually indirect, a manner attributed in part to the influence of his years in the Xing Empire; his effectiveness in informal bilateral negotiations has drawn broader consensus within the ministry than his conduct in formal multilateral settings. He is married to Mai Shinohara and has one daughter, Megumi.