Background
Azusa Ono was born on 10 March 1852 in Sukumo in the domain of Tosa (present-day Kochi Prefecture). He was a son of a low-ranking samurai.
小野梓
Azusa Ono was born on 10 March 1852 in Sukumo in the domain of Tosa (present-day Kochi Prefecture). He was a son of a low-ranking samurai.
In 1869, after the Meiji Restoration, he went to Tokyo and entered the Shoheiko, a school formerly operated by the shogunate. When he was ordered by his domain to return home to Tosa, he gave up his samurai status and became a commoner in order to free himself from the obligation of obeying. He went to China and eventually made his way to America, w’here he devoted himself to study. From 1872 on, he was recognized as an official overseas student of the Finance Ministry and spent his time in London studying economic and political systems.
He took part in the Boshin civil war of 1868-69, fighting in northern Honshu against the forces that remained loyal to the shogunate.
After returning to Japan in 1874, he founded the Kyozon Doshu, an organization made up mainly of persons who had studied abroad, the aim of which was to encourage research and Westernization.
In 1876 he took a position in the Ministry of Justice, and later held such posts as secretary of the Genroin and auditor of the Board of Audit. He was also active in the movement that urged the early establishment of a national assembly.
In addition to his political activities, he was active in educational affairs as well. But his health failed, and he died in 1886 at the young age of thirty-four.
In the government shake-up of 1881 he resigned his official posts, along with Okuma Shigcnobu, and worked to establish the political party known as the Rikken Kaishinto (Progressive Party) headed by Okuma.
