Background
Soma Nagatane was born on December 25, 1850. He was the eldest son of Uheiji, a retainer of the Hikone Clan (Shiga Prefecture).
Soma Nagatane was born on December 25, 1850. He was the eldest son of Uheiji, a retainer of the Hikone Clan (Shiga Prefecture).
Soma studied Confucian classics in his native place. Having returned to his clan in 1868 he continued his studies as a disciple of Sokuken Yasui.
Soma later went to the United States at the order of his lord to study law and economics at Columbia and Yale universities.
After returning to Japan, he was appointed a judge at the Yokohama Court. Soma retired and founded the Tokyo Senshu Gakko where economics and law were taught in Japanese.
He joined the Yokohama Specie Bank and put its deteriorated finances back to normal. Soma became president of the bank. He also served as president of Senshu University in his late years.
