Kuroda, Kiyotaka

Kuroda, Kiyotaka,

1840–1900, Japanese political leader. Born into a samuraisamurai
, knights of feudal Japan, retainers of the daimyo. This aristocratic warrior class arose during the 12th-century wars between the Taira and Minamoto clans and was consolidated in the Tokugawa period.
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 family in SatsumaSatsuma
, peninsula, Kagoshima prefecture, SW Kyushu, Japan. It gives its name to a famous porcelain, Satsuma ware, which was first manufactured there by Korean artisans in the 16th cent.
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, he was active in overthrowing the TokugawaTokugawa
, family that held the shogunate (see shogun) and controlled Japan from 1603 to 1867. Founded by Ieyasu, the Tokugawa regime was a centralized feudalism. The Tokugawa themselves held approximately one fourth of the country in strategically located parcels, which they
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 shogunate and promoting the Meiji restorationMeiji restoration,
The term refers to both the events of 1868 that led to the "restoration" of power to the emperor and the entire period of revolutionary changes that coincided with the Meiji emperor's reign (1868–1912).
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. In 1874, as fears of Russia's eastward expansion grew, Kuroda was put in charge of the colonization of HokkaidoHokkaido
, island (1990 pop. 5,643,515), c.30,130 sq mi (78,040 sq km), N Japan, separated from Honshu island by the Tsugaru Strait and from Sakhalin, Russia, by the Soya Strait. It is the second largest, northernmost, and most sparsely populated of the major islands of Japan.
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; he populated the island with former samurai and soldiers and brought in Western agricultural advisers to implement modern farming methods. Kuroda served as minister of agriculture and commerce (1887) and prime minister (1888–89). In the latter post he oversaw the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution, but his inability to revise various treaties that had been imposed on Japan by foreign powers forced his resignation. He later served as minister of communication (1892) and president of the privy council (1894–1900).