Marquis Hirobumi Ito

Ito, Marquis Hirobumi

 

Born Sept. 2, 1841, in the village of Toka, Suo Province; died Oct. 26, 1909, in Harbin. Japanese statesman and diplomat.

Ito directed the drafting of the reactionary Japanese constitution of 1889 (operative until 1946). He was the prime minister four times, 1885–88, 1892–96, 1898, and 1900–01. As one of the genro, he greatly influenced the policies of the Japanese monarchy during the last third of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. In 1900, Ito organized the bourgeois-landowner party Seiyukai. From 1906 to 1909 he was a general resident in Korea. During his residence there, he prepared for its annexation. Ito was assassinated by a Korean patriot.