Mutsu Munemitsu
After the Meiji Restoration, Ōe left Tosa for Tokyo in 1871 and joined the new Meiji government. Somewhat ironically for his xenophobic background, he was assigned as a judge to assist Mutsu Munemitsu (who had been appointed governor of Kanagawa Prefecture) in the management of foreign affairs at the port of Yokohama. Ōe played a central role in the María Luz Incident, in which the Japanese government took steps to rescue 232 Chinese indentured laborers from a Peruvian ship, over the vehement protests by the Western nations. The incident also led to legislation in 1872, emancipating "burakumin" outcasts, prostitutes and other forms of bonded labor in Japan.