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Munemitsu, Count Mutsu

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Count (1842-1896), Japanese statesman, was born in 1842 in Wakayama. A vehement opponent of "clan government" - that is, usurpation of administrative posts by men of two or three fiefs, an abuse which threatened to follow the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate - he conspired to assist Saigo's rebellion and was imprisoned from 1878 until 1883. While in prison he translated Bentham's Utilitarianism. In 1886, after a visit to Europe, he received a diplomatic appointment, and held the portfolio of foreign affairs during the China-Japan War (1894-95), being associated with Prince (then Count) Ito as peace plenipotentiary. He negotiated the first of the revised treaties (that with Great Britain), and for these various services he received the title of count. He died in Tokyo in 1896. His statue in bronze stands before the foreign office in Tokyo.