Inoue Kaoru
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Inoue Kaoru (井上 馨 Inoue Kaoru, January 16, 1836 - September 1, 1915;) was a Japanese statesman and a member of the oligarchy that ruled Japan during the Meiji period (1868–1912).
Born Yakichi (勇吉) to a poor samurai family in Hagi (now in Yamaguchi Prefecture), Inoue attended the Han school with his brother Ikutarō (幾太郎). He was a close boyhood friend of Ito Hirobumi who later became Japan's first prime minister.
In 1858, he studied Dutch Learning, gunnery and swordsmanship in Edo.
He was a leader of the antiforeign movement in his native Choshu fief. Desiring to rid Japan of foreigners he and Ito Hirobumi helped set fire to the British legation in Edo (Tokyo) in 1862.
His views of Westerners and other foreigners changed when as part of the Choshu Five Inoue studied in London in 1863. When he returned with Ito Hirobumi they tried to prevent war between the Choshu han and the allied powers over the closing of the Straits of Shimonoseki to foreign shipping.
After the Meiji restoration he was influential in reorganizing government finances on modern lines, especially in the reform of the land tax system. As foreign minister (1885–87), his failure to negotiate a revision of the unequal treaties and his unpopular Westernizing influence forced him to resign. Later he served as home minister and as finance minister under Ito. He tried to modernize Korea in 1895.
See also
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