Yoshida Kiyonari
Yoshida Kiyonari (Japanese: 吉田 清成; died 3 August 1891) was a Japanese samurai and diplomatic envoy to the United States.
Early life and education[edit]
In 1865, Yoshida was sent with Sameshima Naonobu and seventeen other samurai from Satsuma Domain to England to study Western science and technology.[1]: 79 During 1867, Yoshida and Sameshima travelled with two others to the United States and joined the Brotherhood of the New Life, Thomas Lake Harris's Christian spiritual group.[1]: 80 When they returned to England later that year, they claimed to have felt the presence of God through Harris' preaching in New York.[1]: 79
Yoshida studied at University College London.[1]: 60 He enrolled at New Jersey's Rutgers College in September 1868, but left after a few months.[2]: 142 The following July, he registered at Wilbraham Academy (now Monson Academy) in Massachusetts and studied political economy.[2]: 142
After graduating, he spent time in New York and Hartford, where he gained experience in banking.[2]: 142
Career[edit]
He returned to Japan in 1870,[2]: 142 and joined the Finance Ministry.[1]: 60 He quickly became deputy junior minister, then head of the Tax Bureau, and finally deputy Vice Minister by November 1871.[2]: 142 While working there, he secured a loan for Japan from the United States and Europe in 1871.[1]: 60
He transferred to the Foreign Ministry,[1]: 60 and in January 1874 he was appointed "extraordinary envoy and plenipotentiary minister" to the United States.[2]: 142 In 1879, he arranged the visit of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia Grant to Japan, and secured the return of funds from the United States Congress.[1]: 60 He stayed in the position of envoy until 1882.
In July 1884, he became Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, but fell out with Minister Inoue Kaoru.[2]: 142–3 He was made Vice Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in September 1885.[2]: 143
He was made an honorary member of the Genrōin in 1887, and awarded the title of viscount.[2]: 143
Personal life[edit]
He became friends with the historian Henry Adams, with whom he shared an interest in archaic law.[3]
He died after a period of illness of 3 August 1891.[2]: 143
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h Sant, John E. Van (2000). Pacific Pioneers: Japanese Journeys to America and Hawaii, 1850-80. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-02560-0. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cobbing, Andrew (2013). The Satsuma Students in Britain: Japan's Early Search for the essence of the West'. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-25202-2. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- ^ Samuels, Ernest (1989). Henry Adams. Harvard University Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-674-38735-5. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
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