Businessman, educator, and statesman. Born as a feudal retainer of the Hikone domain, he went to the United States to study law and economics in 1875. He met his future ally, TAJIRI Inajiro, at Yale University Graduate School in 1877, and returned to Japan in 1879. He established Senshu Gakko (later Senshu University) with Tajiri and others in 1880. He served as an advocate for the Ministry of Justice, and in 1897 became president of the Yokohama Specie Bank. He was elected in the first general election for the House of Representatives in 1890. In 1913, he was appointed as the first president of Senshu University. He was recognized as a Person of Merit in Education at the 50th anniversary celebration of the introduction of the school system in 1922.