page_title: Kuroda Kiyotaka
section_title: Political and Diplomatic Career
hierarchical_section_title: Kuroda Kiyotaka / Biography / Political and Diplomatic Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Marquess Kuroda Nagahiro (黒田 長溥, March 1, 1811 – March 7, 1887) was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period, who ruled the Fukuoka Domain. 日本語: 黒田長溥写真
context_page_description: Count Kuroda Kiyotaka, also known as Kuroda Ryōsuke, was a Japanese politician of the Meiji era. He was Prime Minister of Japan from 1888 to 1889. He was also vice chairman of the Hokkaido Development Commission.
context_section_description: Under the new Meiji government, Kuroda became a pioneer-diplomat to Karafuto, claimed by both Japan and the Russian Empire in 1870. Terrified of Russia's push eastward, Kuroda returned to Tokyo and advocated quick development and settlement of Japan's northern frontier.  In 1871 he traveled to Europe and the United States for five months, and upon returning to Japan in 1872, he was put in charge of colonization efforts in Hokkaidō.
  In 1874, Kuroda was named director of the Hokkaidō Colonization Office, and organized a colonist-militia scheme to settle the island with unemployed ex-samurai and retired soldiers who would serve as both farmers and as a local militia. He was also promoted to lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. Kuroda invited agricultural experts from overseas countries with a similar climate to visit Hokkaidō, and to provide advice on what crops and production methods might be successful.
  Kuroda was dispatched as an envoy to Korea in 1875, and negotiated the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876. In 1877, he was sent as part of the force to suppress the Satsuma Rebellion. In 1878, he became de facto leader of Satsuma Domain following the assassination of Ōkubo Toshimichi.
  Shortly before he left office in Hokkaidō, Kuroda became the central figure in the Hokkaidō Colonization Office Scandal of 1881. As part of the government's privatization program, Kuroda attempted to sell the assets of the Hokkaidō Colonization Office to a trading consortium created by some of his former Satsuma colleagues for a nominal price. When the terms of the sale were leaked to the press, the resultant public outrage caused the sale to fall through. Also in 1881, Kuroda's wife died of a lung disease, but on rumors that Kuroda had killed her in a drunken rage, the body was exhumed and examined. Kuroda was cleared of charges, but rumors of his problems with alcohol abuse persisted.
   
  In 1887, Kuroda was appointed to the cabinet post of Minister of Agriculture and Commerce.
caption: Marquess Kuroda Nagahiro of Fukuoka Domain. Kuroda Kiyotaka received supports from Fukuoka Domain which later proved their critical roles in Kuroda's political career.
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