Itō Hirobumi

Itō Hirobumi (1841-1909) was a Bakumatsu patriot and Meiji-era statesman from the Chōshū domain (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture), known as Japan's first Prime Minister. As one of the disciples who studied at Yoshida Shōin's Shōka Sonjuku, he was deeply involved in the anti-shogunate movement and the Meiji Restoration, and later led the drafting of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan, laying the foundations of modern Japan.

Itō was born the son of a farmer in Suō Province (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture), but gained samurai status when his father was adopted into the Itō household. Entering Shōka Sonjuku at a young age, he received a profound intellectual influence from Yoshida Shōin. In the atmosphere of heightened loyalist anti-foreign sentiment, Itō joined the anti-shogunate movement alongside Takasugi Shinsaku and others, even participating in the burning of the British legation (1862)—a radical patriot in every sense.

However, after stowing away to Britain in 1863 and witnessing the reality of the West firsthand, Itō recognized the impracticality of the anti-foreign policy and shifted to a course of opening Japan and civilizational reform. After the Boshin War, he held important posts in the Meiji government, and as a deputy on the Iwakura Mission (1871-1873) he traveled through Europe and America, gaining deep understanding of the shape of modern nation-states.

After the political coup of 1881, which removed his rival Ōkuma Shigenobu, Itō became the central figure in the drafting of Japan's constitution. Conducting constitutional research in Germany and Austria from 1882 to 1883, he drafted the Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Meiji Constitution) modeled on the Prussian constitutional monarchy, and in 1885 was appointed Japan's first Prime Minister. He subsequently served as Prime Minister four times and led the delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Shimonoseki following the First Sino-Japanese War.

In the realm of Japanese swords, Itō understood swordsmanship as a Bakumatsu patriot and trained in kenjutsu during his Shōka Sonjuku years. In his youthful days when loyalist anti-foreign sentiment ran strong, the sword was both a spiritual pillar of the patriot and a symbol of action. Even when carrying out the burning of the British legation, Itō and his fellow patriots acted with swords in hand, prepared to die. Yet in later years, Itō found his path in protecting the nation not with swords but with constitutions and laws—the "modern sword"—embodying the era's transformation from military force to rule of law. When he was assassinated by An Jung-geun at Harbin Station in 1909, the life of this great Meiji statesman who had spoken of peace in the Far East came to its close.