The Marquis Inoue Kaoru, GCMG was a Japanese politician and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. As one of the senior statesmen in Japan during that period, he had a tremendous influence on the selection of the nation's leaders and formation of its policies.
Early years
Born Yakichi to a lower-ranked samurai family in Yuda, Chōshū domain, Inoue attended the Meirinkandomain school with his brother Ikutarō. He was a close boyhood friend of Itō Hirobumi who later became Japan's first prime minister, and he played an active part in the sonnō jōi movement. In 1858, he studied rangaku, artillery and swordsmanship in Edo. In the Bakumatsu period, Inoue emerged as a leader of the anti-foreigner movement in his native Chōshū. Desiring to rid Japan of foreigners, he and Takasugi Shinsaku set fire to the British legation in Edo in January 1863. Recognizing Japan's need to learn from the Western powers, Inoue joined the Chōshū Five and was smuggled out of Japan to study at University College, London in England in 1863. When he returned with Itō Hirobumi, he unsuccessfully tried to prevent war between Chōshū and the Western naval powers over the closing of the Straits of Shimonoseki to foreign shipping. Later, he fought against the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1864 First Chōshū Expedition, during which he was severely wounded by the attack of the assassins, received a near-fatal injury, appealing to Inoue's elder brother for beheading because of the unbearable pain and finally Ikutaro Tokoro who was then in hiding from the pursuit of Tokugawa shogunate with Prince Sanjō Sanetomi and rushed to Inoue pulled him through this by putting about 50 stiches of tatami needle in the wounds on the whole body without anesthesia because of emergency during the domestic war time. He later played a key role in the formation of the Satchō Alliance against the Tokugawa shogunate.
After the Meiji Restoration, Inoue served in several important positions in the new Meiji government. He was appointed Vice Minister of Finance in 1871 and was influential in reorganizing government finances on modern lines, especially in the reform of the land tax system, termination of government stipends to the ex-samurai and former aristocracy and for promoting industrialization. Closely linked to business circles, including the emerging Mitsuizaibatsu, he was also involved in the railway business.These measures created many political enemies, and Inoue was forced to resign in May 1873. Inoue took part in the Osaka Conference of 1875 to support the creation of a representative national assembly. In 1876, Inoue was asked to assist in the field of foreign affairs, and was involved in the conclusion of the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876 as vice-ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. He returned to government as Minister of Public Works in 1878 and Lord of Foreign Affairs in 1879 under the early Meiji Dajō-kan Cabinet. In 1884, he was elevated to the rank of count under the new kazoku peerage system. In December 1885, Inoue officially became Japan’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs bearing that title in the first Itō Hirobumi cabinet. However, Inoue came under public criticism for his failure to negotiate a revision of the unequal treaties, his building of the Rokumeikan, and support of its Westernizing influences, which forced him to resign in August 1887. Later he served as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the Kuroda administration, as Home Minister in the second Itō administration and again as Finance Minister in the 3rd Itō administration. From 1901 onwards, Inoue served as most senior of the genrō, and considered himself the government's foremost advisor on financial affairs. He was advanced to the title of marquis in 1907, and died in 1915 at his summer home at Okitsu-juku, Shizuoka prefecture.
