Meiji oligarchy: Difference between revisions

{{More|Government of Meiji Japan}}

[[File:Toshimichi Ōkubo 5.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Ōkubo Toshimichi]] of the Meiji oligarchy.]]

 

The members of this class were adherents of ''[[kokugaku]]'' and believed they were the creators of a new order as grand as that established by Japan's original founders. Two of the major figures of this group were [[Ōkubo Toshimichi]] (1832–78), son of a [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]] retainer, and Satsuma ''[[samurai]]'' [[Saigō Takamori]] (1827–77), who had joined forces with [[Chōshū Han|Chōshū]], [[Tosa Province|Tosa]], and [[Hizen Province|Hizen]] to overthrow the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. Okubo became [[Minister of Finance (Japan)|minister of finance]] and Saigō a field marshal; both were imperial councillors. [[Kido Koin]] (1833–77), a native of Chōshū, student of [[Yoshida Shōin]], and conspirator with Ōkubo and Saigō, became minister of education and chairman of the Governors' Conference and pushed for constitutional government. Also prominent were [[Iwakura Tomomi]] (1825–83), a Kyoto native who had opposed the Tokugawa and was to become the first ambassador to the [[United States]], and [[Ōkuma Shigenobu]] (1838–1922), of Hizen, a student of ''[[Rangaku]]'', [[Classical Chinese|Chinese]], and [[English language|English]], who held various ministerial portfolios, eventually becoming [[Prime Minister of Japan|prime minister]] in 1898.