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'''[[Marquess|Kazoku]] Inoue Kaoru''' (井上 馨, January 16, 1836 – September 1, 1915) was a [[Japanese|Japanese people]] [[politician]] and a prominent member of the [[Meiji oligarchy]] during the [[Meiji period]] of the Empire of Japan. As one of the senior statesmen (''Genrō'') in Japan during that period, he had a tremendous influence on the selection of the nation's leaders and formation of its policies.
In the Bakumatsu period, Inoue emerged as a leader of the anti-foreigner movement in his native Chōshū. Desiring to rid Japan of foreigners, he and Takasugi Shinsaku set fire to the British legation in Edo in January 1863.
Recognizing Japan's need to learn from the Western powers, Inoue joined the Chōshū Five and was smuggled out of Japan to study at University College, London Prime Minister Shinzō Abe visited UCL and the monument of Chōshū Five therein | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan PM Abe visits the monument to commemorating the ‘Choshu Five’ | Prime Minister Abe’s visit boosts Japan-UK relations in England in 1863. When he returned with Itō Hirobumi, he unsuccessfully tried to prevent war (the Battle of Shimonoseki) between Chōshū and the Western naval powers over the closing of the Straits of Shimonoseki to foreign shipping.
Later, during the 1864 First Chōshū Expedition which he was severely wounded by assassins from a rival Chōshū faction. Suffering a near-fatal injury, Inoue asked his elder brother to behead him and end his unbearable pain. However, Ikutaro Tokoro, who was in hiding from the Tokugawa shogunate alongside Prince Sanjō Sanetomi, rushed to Inoue's aid. In an emergency procedure during the wartime chaos, Tokoro stitched Inoue's wounds—about 50 in total—using a tatami needle and without anesthesia. (According to a story featured in the National Japanese textbook of the 5th period, Inoue's mother, holding her bloodied son, dissuaded his elder brother from carrying out the beheading.) Tokoro Ikutaro, masterless samurai who became staff officer of Takasugi Shinsaku and saved the life of Inoue Kaoru : Sankei News
He later played a key role in the formation of the Satchō Alliance against the Tokugawa shogunate.
In 1876, Inoue was asked to assist in the field of foreign affairs, and was involved in the conclusion of the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876 as vice-ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. He returned to government as Minister of Public Works in 1878 and Lord of Foreign Affairs in 1879 under the early Meiji Dajō-kan Cabinet. In 1884, he was elevated to the rank of count ( hakushaku) under the new kazoku peerage system.
In December 1885, Inoue officially became Japan's first Minister of Foreign Affairs bearing that title in the first Itō Hirobumi cabinet. However, Inoue came under public criticism for his failure to negotiate a revision of the unequal treaties, his building of the Rokumeikan, and support of its Westernizing influences, which forced him to resign in August 1887.
Later he served as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the Kuroda Kiyotaka administration, as Home Minister in the second Itō administration and again as Finance Minister in the 3rd Itō administration.
From 1901 onwards, Inoue served as most senior of the genrō, and considered himself the government's foremost advisor on financial affairs. He was advanced to the title of marquis ( kōshaku) in 1907, and died in 1915 at his summer home at Okitsu-juku, Shizuoka prefecture.
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