Iwakura Tomomi

Iwakura Tomomi (岩倉 具視^?, October 26, 1825 – July 20, 1883) was a Japanese during the Bakumatsu and Meiji period. The former 500 Yen banknote issued by the Bank of Japan carried his portrait.

Iwakura was born in Kyoto as the second son of a low-ranking courtier and nobleman Horikawa Yasuchika (堀川 康親^?). In 1836 he was adopted by another nobleman, Iwakura Tomoyasu (岩倉 具康^?), from whom he received his family name. He was trained by the kampaku Takatsukasa Masamichi and wrote the opinion for the imperial Court reformation. In 1854 he became a chamberlain to Emperor Kōmei.

As with most other courtiers in Kyoto, Iwakura opposed the Tokugawa shogunate's plans to end Japan's national isolation policy and to open Japan to foreign countries. When Hotta Masayoshi, a Rōjū of the Tokugawa government came to Kyoto to obtain imperial permission to sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan) in 1858, Iwakura gathered courtiers who opposed the treaty and attempted to hinder negotiations between the Shōgun and the Court.

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