Kuroda Kiyotaka

Categories: 1840 births | 1900 deaths | Japanese prime ministers

Kiyotaka Kuroda (黒田 清隆 Kuroda Kiyotaka; October 16,1840–August 23,1900), also known as Kuroda Ryōsuke (黒田 了介), was a Japanese politician of the Meiji era, and the second Prime Minister of Japan from April 30, 1888 to October 25, 1889.

Kuroda was born in Satsuma Province in Kyushu, which later became Kagoshima Prefecture. He became a Samurai serving Daimyo Shimazu. In 1862, Kuroda was in the procession involved in the Namamugi Incident, in which Shimazu killed a British national who refused to bow down to his procession. This ultimately led to the Anglo-Satsuma War in 1863, which Kuroda also witnessed. Immediately after the war, he went to Edo where he studied gunnery.

Returning to Satsuma, he was an active member of the Satsuma-Choshu joint effort to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. Later, he was a leader in the Boshin War and became famous after the war for sparing the life of Enomoto Takeaki, who had stood against Kuroda's army at Hakodate.

In 1870 he became a pioneer-diplomat to Sakhalin, called Karafuto. Terrified of Russia's push eastward, he returned to Tokyo and advocated quick development of the northern frontier. In 1871 he traveled to Europe and the United States for five months, and upon returning to Japan in 1872, he was put in charge of settlement efforts in Hokkaido.

In 1878, he became leader of the Satsuma clan following the assasination of Okubo Toshimichi, but this was not an easy year for Kuroda. Shortly before he left office in Hokkaido, Kuroda was accused of selling government property. His wife also died of a lung disease, but on rumors that Kuroda had killed her in a drunken rage, the body was exumed and examined. Kuroda was cleared of charges, but rumors of his problems with alcohol spread.

He became prime minister in 1888 and oversaw the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution: however, he was forced to resign the following year after making several momentous blunders in treaty negotiations. He later became a genro, Communications Minister, and chairman of the Privy Council. He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1900.