Matsukata Masayoshi

Prince Matsukata Masayoshi was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1891 to 1892, and from 1896 to 1898. Born in the Satsuma Domain to a samurai family, Matsukata served as finance minister for 15 of the 20 years between 1881 and 1901, led the creation of the Bank of Japan in 1882, and had significant influence in the financial and economic articles of the Meiji Constitution of 1889. He became a genrō, or senior statesman who dictated policy in the later Meiji era, and was given the title of prince in 1922.