Itō Hirobumi

Prince Itō Hirobumi (Japanese: 伊藤 博文 [i.toː (|) çi.ɾoꜜ.bɯ.mʲi]; born Hayashi Risuke (林 利助); 16 October 1841 – 26 October 1909) was a Japanese statesman who served as the first prime minister of Japan from 1885 to 1888. Itō held office again as prime minister three times between 1892 and 1901. He was also a member of the genrō, a group of senior statesmen who effectively dictated policy for the Empire of Japan during the Meiji era. A key figure in the making of modern Japan, Itō played a central role in the drafting of the 1889 Meiji Constitution as well as the establishment of the National Diet and Japanese cabinet system.

Born into a poor farming family in the Chōshū Domain, Itō Hirobumi and his father were adopted into a low-ranking samurai family. After the opening of Japan in 1854, he joined the nationalist sonnō jōi movement before being sent to England in 1863 to study at University College London. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Itō was appointed a junior councilor for foreign affairs in the newly formed Empire of Japan. Later in 1870, he traveled to the United States to study Western currency, and subsequently helped establish Japan's modern banking and taxation systems. Itō then set off on another overseas trip with the Iwakura Mission to the U.S. and Europe. Upon his return to Japan in 1873, he became a full councilor and public works minister.

By the early 1880s, Itō emerged as the de facto leader of the Meiji oligarchy. In 1881, he was officially entrusted with overseeing the drafting of the Meiji Constitution. After traveling to Europe to study its nations' political systems, Itō settled on adopting a constitution emulating that of Prussia by reserving considerable power with the emperor while limiting political parties' involvement in government. In 1885, he replaced the Daijō-kan with a cabinet composed of ministry heads, and became Japan's first prime minister. After the Meiji Constitution was drafted in 1888, he established a supra-cabinet Privy Council led by himself to review it before its official promulgation in 1889. Even out of office as prime minister, Itō continued to exert significant influence on government policy as an imperial adviser, or genkun, and as President of the Privy Council. In 1900, he founded the Rikken Seiyūkai political party as party politics grew more prominent in the Diet.

On the world stage, Itō pursued an active foreign policy. He strengthened diplomatic ties with Western powers including Germany, the United States, and especially the United Kingdom. In Asia, he oversaw the First Sino-Japanese War and negotiated the surrender of China's ruling Qing dynasty on terms favorable to Japan, including the annexation of Taiwan and the release of Korea from the Chinese tributary system. After the Russo-Japanese War, the ensuing Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 made Itō the first Resident-General of Korea. Despite initially supporting a protectorate rather than outright annexation of Korea, pressure from the Imperial Japanese Army leadership and the failure of his gradualist approach contributed to his support for annexation. Itō resigned as Resident-General in June 1909 only to be assassinated four months later by Korean-independence activist and nationalist An Jung-geun in Harbin, Manchuria.