Kuroda Kiyotaka
Kuroda Kiyotaka was a Prime Minister of Japan, and before that, director of the Hokkaido Development Bureau.
He was parodied in the Marumaru chinbun by being represented in political cartoons as a black octopus (kuroi tako, a pun on his name); the publication played a significant role in spreading rumors or allegations that he had killed his wife in a drunken fit, and that he was corrupt as a politician, accepting bribes from corporations to cheaply sell them government land in Hokkaido.
References
- Peter Duus, "The Marumaru Chinbun and the Origins of the Japanese Political Cartoon," International Journal of Comic Art 1 (1999), 49.