*** Welcome to piglix ***

Hirobumi Itō

Itō Hirobumi
伊藤博文
Itō Hirobumi.jpg
1st, 5th, 7th, and 10th Prime Minister of Japan
In office
19 October 1900 – 10 May 1901
Monarch Meiji
Preceded by Yamagata Aritomo
Succeeded by Saionji Kinmochi (Acting)
In office
12 January 1898 – 30 June 1898
Monarch Meiji
Preceded by Matsukata Masayoshi
Succeeded by Ōkuma Shigenobu
In office
8 August 1892 – 31 August 1896
Monarch Meiji
Preceded by Matsukata Masayoshi
Succeeded by Kuroda Kiyotaka (Acting)
In office
22 December 1885 – 30 April 1888
Monarch Meiji
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Kuroda Kiyotaka
Resident General of Korea
In office
21 December 1905 – 14 June 1909
Monarch Meiji
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Sone Arasuke
Personal details
Born (1841-10-16)16 October 1841
Tsukari, Japan
Died 26 October 1909(1909-10-26) (aged 68)
Harbin, China
Political party Independent (Before 1900)
Constitutional Association of Political Friendship (1900–1909)
Spouse(s) Itō Umeko
Alma mater University College London
Signature

Prince Itō Hirobumi (伊藤 博文?, October 16, 1841 – October 26, 1909, born Hayashi Risuke and also known as Hirofumi, Hakubun and briefly during his youth Itō Shunsuke) was a Japanese statesman and genrō. A London-educated samurai of the Chōshū Domain and an influential figure in the early Meiji Restoration government, he chaired the bureau which drafted the Meiji Constitution in the 1880s. Looking to the West for legal inspiration, Itō rejected the United States Constitution as too liberal and the Spanish Restoration as too despotic before ultimately drawing on the British and German models, especially the Prussian Constitution of 1850. Dissatisfied with the prominent role of Christianity in European legal traditions, he substituted references to the more traditionally Japanese concept of kokutai or "national polity", which became the constitutional justification for imperial authority.

In 1885 he became Japan's first Prime Minister, an office his constitutional bureau had introduced. He went on to hold the position four times, becoming one of the longest serving PMs in Japanese history, and wielded considerable power even out of office as the occasional head of Emperor Meiji's Privy Council. A monarchist, Itō favoured a large, bureaucratic government and opposed the formation of political parties. His third government was ended by the consolidation of the opposition into the Kenseitō party in 1898, prompting him to found the Rikken Seiyūkai in response. He resigned his fourth and final ministry in 1901 after growing weary of party politics, but served as head of the Privy Council twice more before his death.


...
Wikipedia

...