was a Japanese statesman in the early

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

. Endō was born to a ''

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of History of Japan#Medieval Japan (1185–1573/1600), medieval and Edo period, early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retai ...

'' family in Hagi,

Chōshū Domain The , also known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871.Deal, William E. (2005) ''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan,'' p. 81 The Chōshū Domain was ba ...

(present-day

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to ...

. He was selected by the domain to be a member of the

Chōshū Five The were members of the Chōshū han of western Japan who travelled to England in 1863 to study at University College London. The five students were the first of many successive groups of Japanese students who travelled overseas in the late Bak ...

who were smuggled out of Japan in defiance of the

Tokugawa bakufu The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

's policy of national seclusion to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

in 1863. Chōshū was desperate to acquire better knowledge of the western nations in order to strengthen the domain in its struggle to overthrow the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

. Endō returned from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1866, just before the start of the Boshin War. When Sir Harry Parkes, the British minister in Japan between 1865 and 1883, visited Chōshū in 1866, Endō served as an interpreter, together with

Inoue Kaoru Marquess Inoue Kaoru (井上馨, January 16, 1836 – September 1, 1915) was a Japanese politician and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. As one of the senior statesmen ('' Genrō'') in J ...

, another member of the

. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

and the establishment of the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

, Endō served as the head of the new in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, from 1881-1883. He is remembered less for his efforts in establishing a unified national currency and more for his policy that the grounds of the Mint should be open for all the people of Osaka in spring, when the

sakura A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

trees planted there come into bloom.

Reference and further reading

* Beasley, W. G. ''The Meiji Restoration.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972. * Cobbing, Andrew. ''The Japanese Discovery of Victorian Britain''. RoutledgeCurzon, London, 1998. * Craig, Albert M. ''Chōshū in the Meiji Restoration.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961 {{DEFAULTSORT:Endo, Kinsuke 1836 births 1893 deaths People from Yamaguchi Prefecture Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom People of Meiji-period Japan Samurai Mōri retainers Alumni of University College London

See also

Reference and further reading