COUNT MUNEMITSU

See also:

• COUNT MUNEMITSU MUTSU (1842-1896)

MUTSU (1842-1896)  , Japanese states-man, was born in 1842 in Wakayama . A vehement opponent of " clan government "—that is, usurpation of administrative posts by men of two or three fiefs, an abuse which threatened to follow the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate—he con-spired to assist Saigo's rebellion and was imprisoned from 1878 until 1883 . While in prison he translated Bentham's Utilitarian-ism . In 1886, after a visit to Europe, he received a diplomatic appointment, and held the portfolio of foreign affairs during the China-Japan War (1894-95), being associated with Prince (then Count) Ito as peace plenipotentiary . He negotiated the first of the revised treaties (tnat with Great Britain), and for these various services he received the title of count . He died in Tokyo in 1896 . His statue in bronze stands before the foreign office in Tokyo .