Itō Hirobumi

1st, 5th, 7th and 10th Prime Minister of Japan (1841–1909)

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Lived 1841–1909, aged 68Japan

Japan PoliticiansPolitician

Wikipedia
66 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1841–1909
Aged 68
Awards
16
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-09-07

Japan's first prime minister, architect of the Meiji Constitution that transformed the country from feudal state to modern empire. A poor farmer's son who rose to shape the political machinery of an entire nation — and died by assassination in Manchuria for his role in Korea's subjugation.

Biography

About

Born Hayashi Risuke in 1841 to a poor farming family in Chōshū Domain, Itō and his father were adopted into a low-ranking samurai household. After Japan's opening in 1854, he joined the nationalist sonnō jōi movement before being sent to study at University College London in 1863. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, he climbed quickly through the new government: junior councilor, then a mission to study American currency systems, later a full councilor traveling with the Iwakura Mission across the U.S. and Europe. By the early 1880s he had become the de facto leader of the Meiji oligarchy…

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