Oura Kei

Date of Birth and Death
July 30, 1828 - April 13, 1884
Birthplace (modern name)
Nagasaki
Occupation, Status
Businessperson

Description

Merchant in the tea trade. Pioneer of Japanese tea exports. In 1853, she approached Carl Julius Textor, a German resident in Dejima, about finding a market for Ureshino tea. She received an order from England three years later and exported Japanese tea. She formed a friendship with the businessman Thomas Blake Glover and supported SAKAMOTO Ryoma, TAKASUGI Shinsaku and OKUMA Shigenobu. She was commonly known as “Oura no Okei-san”.

SNS

Oura Kei

  • Portrait of Oura Kei1