Arinori Mori, a Meiji era diplomat, served as the first Chargé d’Affaires in the United States from 1871 to 1873.
Arinori’s father was a Kagoshima feudal lord. Arinori studied at Zoshikan, the prefectural school of Kagoshima, and Kaiseijo, the Western-style school of the Kagoshima. In 1865, he attended school in England as a student representing the Kagoshima clan.
After returning to Japan in 1868, Mori served as a commissioned officer in the new government, a judge for foreign governmental authorities, a chairman of the public council, and a vice-president of the institutional dormitory. He temporarily left his post and returned to his hometown but returned to the service again. Mori served as the first Chargé d’Affaires in the United States from 1871 to 1873. Upon returning to Japan, he became the central figure in establishing the Meirokusha*, dedicated to educating people about Western thoughts such as rationalism. Mori later served as Minister and Foreign Minister to China, Minister to the U.K., and Counsellor of the House of Councillors. Mori became Minister of Education in the first Ito and Kuroda cabinets.
He assisted the Iwakura Mission during their travels, such as arranging meetings between the delegation and President Grant. Mori was interested in western educational schools of thought, having received his education at University College London. Notably, he wrote to the linguist William Dwight Whitney about possibly making English the national language of Japan. Though he failed in this endeavor, he made many other Western-centric changes to Japan’s education system, named after him, the “Mori Reforms,” as the Minister of Education.
Mori was assassinated by nationalists on the day the Constitution was promulgated and died the following day in 1989.
*Meirokusha was Japan’s first academic organization. It was established in 1873 by Shigeki Nishimura, Nishiamane, Masanao Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kato, Akiyoshi Mitsukuri, Yukichi Fukuzawa, and others, led by Arinori Mori. They published the journal “Meiroku Zasshi” and played a significant role in popularizing Enlightenment philosophy. It was dissolved in 1875.
