- Inoue Kowashi
nihongo|Inoue Kowashi|井上毅|Inoue Kowashi; (
6 February ,1844 -13 March 1895 ) was a statesman inMeiji period Japan .Early life
Inoue was born into a
samurai familyHigo Province (present-dayKumamoto Prefecture ), as the third son of Iida Kengoei. In 1866 Kowashi was adopted by Inoue Shigesaburō, another retainer of the Nagaokadaimyo . Known as a highly intelligent child, Inoue entered the domain's Confucian academy, eventually becoming one of the academy's resident students. He fought on the imperial side in theBoshin War to overthrow theTokugawa bakufu .After the
Meiji Restoration , Inoue joined the Ministry of Justice, and was sent toGermany andFrance for studies. He became a protégé ofOkubo Toshimitsu , and accompanied him toBeijing for negotiations following theTaiwan Expedition of 1874 . After Okubo’s assassination, he worked closely withIto Hirobumi andIwakura Tomomi , and became a member of the "Genroin ."Meiji bureaucrat
In 1875, based upon his experiences in Europe, Inoue published two volumes of documents called "Ōkoku Kenkoku Hō" (Constitutions for Kingdoms), which was primarily a translation of the
Prussia n and Belgian constitutions with Inoue's own commentary, which he submitted Iwakura Tomomi. Iwakura recognized Inoue's talent and assigned him to work on the new constitution for Japan.Working with German legal advisor
Karl Friedrich Hermann Roesler , Inoue worked on the drafts of theMeiji Constitution , and also drafts of theImperial Household Law . He also cooperated withMotoda Nagazane in the preparation of theImperial Rescript on Education .In 1877 he was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary, in 1881 Chief Secretary to the House of Councilors, in 1884 adjunct Chief Librarian of the Imperial Household Ministry, in 1888 Director General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau.
Inoue became a member of the Privy Council in 1890, and served as Minister of Education in the third Ito administration from 1893. In 1895, he was ennobled with the title of "shishaku" (
viscount ) in the "kazoku " peerage system.References and Further Reading
*Khan, Yoshimitsu. "Inoue Kowashi and the dual images of the Emperor of Japan", Pacific Affairs, Summer 1998.
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