Editing Ōkuma Shigenobu (section)

==Political career==
[[File:Okuma_Shigenobu2.jpg|thumb|left|Ōkuma Shigenobu as a young man.]]

Following the [[Boshin War]] of the [[Meiji Restoration]] in 1868, Okuma was placed in charge of foreign affairs for the new [[Meiji government]]. At this time, he negotiated with British diplomat, Sir [[Harry Smith Parkes]] on the ban of Christianity and insisted on maintaining the government's persecution on Catholics in [[Nagasaki]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}}

In 1873, the Japanese government removed the ban on Christianity.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

He was soon given an additional post as head of Japan's monetary reform program. He made use of his close contacts with [[Inoue Kaoru]] to secure a position in the central government in [[Tokyo]]. He was elected to the first [[Diet of Japan]] in 1870 and soon became [[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]], in which capacity he instituted property and taxation reforms that aided Japan's early industrial development.<ref>Borton, p. 78.</ref> He presided over the commission which represented the Japanese government at the [[1873 Vienna World's Fair]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=62}}

He also unified the nation's currency, created the national mint, and a separate [[Ministry of Industry (Japan)|Minister of Industry]]; however, he was dismissed in 1881 after a long series of disagreements with members of the [[Satsuma Domain|Satsuma]] and [[Chōshū Domain|Chōshū]] clique in the [[Meiji oligarchy]], most notably [[Itō Hirobumi]], over his efforts to secure foreign loans, to establish a constitution, and especially over his exposure of illicit property dealings involving [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] [[Kuroda Kiyotaka]] and others from Satsuma.

In 1882, Ōkuma co-founded the Constitutional Progressive Party ''([[Rikken Kaishintō]])'' which soon attracted a number of other leaders, including [[Ozaki Yukio]] and [[Inukai Tsuyoshi]]. That same year, Ōkuma founded the ''Tokyo Senmon Gakkō'' ({{lang|ja|東京専門学校}}) in the Waseda district of [[Tokyo]]. The school later became [[Waseda University]], one of the country's most prominent institutions of higher education.<ref>Beasley, p. 105.</ref>
[[File:Shigenobu Okuma 2.JPG|thumb|Ōkuma Shigenobu during his premiership]]
Despite their continuing animosity, Itō again appointed Ōkuma to the post of [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Foreign Minister]] in February 1888 to deal with the difficult issue of negotiation revisions to the "[[unequal treaties]]" with the Western powers. The treaty he negotiated was perceived by the public as too conciliatory to the Western powers, and created considerable controversy. In 1889, Ōkuma was attacked by a member of the ''[[Gen'yōsha]]'', who threw a bomb directly under Ōkuma's carriage.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Driscoll |first=Mark W. |title=The Whites are Enemies of Heaven: Climate Caucasianism and Asian Ecological Protection |date=2020 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-1-4780-1121-7 |location=Durham}}</ref>{{Rp|page=253}} Following two operations, Ōkuma's left leg was amputated at the hip.<ref name=":6"/>{{Rp|page=253}} He retired from politics at that time.

However, he returned to politics in 1896 by reorganizing the ''Rikken Kaishintō'' into the ''[[Shimpotō]]'' (Progressive Party).{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} In 1897, [[Matsukata Masayoshi]] convinced Ōkuma to participate in his second administration as Foreign Minister and [[Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce|Agriculture and Commerce Minister]], but again, he remained in office for only one year before resigning as a result of intrigues involving the prime minister.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=62}}