Terashima Munenori

• Other Names: 出水泉蔵 (Demizu Senzou), 松木弘安 (Matsuki Kouan), 松木陶蔵 (Matsuki Tôzô)
• Japanese: 寺島宗則 (Terashima Munenori)

Terashima Munenori was an early Meiji period Minister of Education and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He was one of a number of retainers from various different domains appointed in 1856 to serve as assistant instructors at the newly-established Bansho Shirabesho (the shogunate's institute for Western learning).

After spending two years in England as a student sponsored by the Tokugawa shogunate, he returned to England in 1865, at age 34, to serve as guide and teacher for a group of nineteen students from Satsuma han.

Serving as a Japanese representative in diplomatic discussions with the British government, he secured British support for Satsuma, and played a significant role in the anti-shogunate movement of the Bakumatsu period. Originally known as Matsuki Kôan, and going by the name Demizu Senzô while overseas, he later changed his name to Terashima Munenori, and attained several top-level positions in the Meiji government.

References

• Plaque on monument to Satsuma students at Kagoshima Chûô train station.[1]