Okuma Shigenobu

Bronze statue of Ôkuma Shigenobu at Waseda University

• Birth: 1838
• Death: 1922
• Japanese: 大隈重信 (Ookuma Shigenobu)

Ôkuma Shigenobu was a prominent government minister in the Meiji period, one of the genrô, and is also known as the founder of Waseda University.

Ôkuma was succeeded as Foreign Minister by Aoki Shûzô in 1889.

Ôkuma was the founder of the Tokyo Senmon Gakkô, which later became Waseda University; Ôkuma then became the first sôchô (overall head) of the university. A bronze statue of him which now stands on campus was originally completed in 1932/10, for the 50th anniversary of the university's founding. It was designed and made by Asakura Fumio (1883-1964), and stands 2.89 meters tall, atop a stone base 2.12 meters high. Asakura also made two other statues of Ôkuma, one erected in Shiba Kôen in 1916, and one erected at the National Diet Building, in 1938.

Ôkuma is buried at Tokyo's Gokoku-ji.