page_title: Meiji oligarchy
section_title: List of leading Meiji period politicians
hierarchical_section_title: Meiji oligarchy / List of leading Meiji period politicians
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Iwakura Tomomi (岩倉具視, 1825 – 1883)
context_page_description: The Meiji oligarchy was the new ruling class of Meiji period Japan. In Japanese, the Meiji oligarchy is called the domain clique.
  The members of this class were adherents of kokugaku and believed they were the creators of a new order as grand as that established by Japan's original founders. Two of the major figures of this group were Ōkubo Toshimichi, son of a Satsuma retainer, and Satsuma samurai Saigō Takamori, who had joined forces with Chōshū, Tosa, and Hizen to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. Okubo became minister of finance and Saigō a field marshal; both were imperial councillors. Kido Koin, a native of Chōshū, student of Yoshida Shōin, and conspirator with Ōkubo and Saigō, became minister of education and chairman of the Governors' Conference and pushed for constitutional government. Also prominent were Iwakura Tomomi, a Kyoto native who had opposed the Tokugawa and was to become the first ambassador to the United States, and Ōkuma Shigenobu, of Hizen, a student of Rangaku, Chinese, and English, who held various ministerial portfolios, eventually becoming prime minister in 1898.
context_section_description: The following were leading figures in the Meiji Restoration, when  and in the subsequent Government of Meiji Japan:
  From the Court nobility:
  Iwakura Tomomi (1825-1883)
  Saionji Kinmochi (1849 - 1940)
  Sanjō Sanetomi (1837-1891)
  From Satsuma Domain:
  Godai Tomoatsu (1836 -1885)
  Kuroda Kiyotaka (1840 -1900)
  Matsukata Masayoshi (1835 -1924)
  Mori Arinori (1847-1889)
  Ōkubo Toshimichi (1830 -1878)
  Oyama Iwao (1842 - 1916)
  Saigō Takamori (1827 -1877)
  Saigō Tsugumichi (1843 - 1902)
  Terashima Munenori (1836-1893)
  From Chōshū Domain:
  Inoue Kaoru (1835 -1915)
  Itō Hirobumi (1841 -1909)
  Kido Takayoshi (1833 -1877)
  Ōmura Masujirō (1824 -1869)
  Takasugi Shinsaku (1837-1867)
  Yamagata Aritomo (1838 -1922)
  From Tosa Domain:
  Gotō Shōjirō (1838 -1897)
  Itagaki Taisuke (1837-1919)
  Sakamoto Ryōma (1836 -1867)
  From Hizen Domain:
  Etō Shimpei (1834 -1874)
  Oki Takato (1832-1899)
  Ōkuma Shigenobu (1838-1922)
  Soejima Taneomi (1828-1905)
  Others:
  Hayashi Tadasu (1850-1913)
  Inoue Kowashi 1844-1905)
  Katsu Kaishū (1823-1899)
  Yokoi Shonan (1809-1869)
  Yuri Kimimasa (1829-1912)
caption: Iwakura Tomomi
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2004:04:02 15:11:43", "Image ExifOffset": "156", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4055", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1334"}