Ito Hirobumi (1841-1909) was a young man from Choshu domain at the time of the Meiji Restoration. Although he was not one of the main leaders in the restoration movement, within a very short time, he rose to dominance together with a few other young leaders like Yamagata Aritomo. Ito is best known as a civilian administrator, as the main writer of the Meiji constitution, and the first president of the first successful party under the constitution. Ito was not only a gifted politician and administrator, it was he who held the emerging modern Japanese state together through careful compromise at crucial times which might have erupted into devastating conflict.
