1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Saionji, Kimmochi, Prince

SAIONJI, KIMMOCHI, Prince (1839–), Japanese statesman, was born in Kyoto, in 1839. When less than 20 years of age, he took part in the councils which led to the Restoration and at 19 was commander-in-chief of an imperial army. He studied in France from 1869 to 1880, and returned home imbued with democratic ideas. In 1881 he commenced his official career and in the following year accompanied Mr. (afterwards Prince) Ito to Europe and the United States to investigate the parliamentary system. In 1885 he was appointed minister to Austria; in 1888 he occupied a similar post in Berlin and in 1891 was appointed president of the Board of Decoration. In 1893, he became vice-president of the House of Peers and was raised to the Privy Council in 1894. In the same year he received the portfolio of education in the second Ito Cabinet, temporarily acting as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the illness of the late Count Mutsu. He was again Minister for Education in the third Ito Cabinet from Jan. to June 1898, and was nominated president of the Privy Council on the death of Count Kuroda, three times acting as prime minister during the interval between the resignation of one Cabinet and the formation of the succeeding one. In July 1903, he became the leader of the Seiyu-Kai and in 1905 formed his first Cabinet as prime minister; he was again premier in 1911 to 1912. In 1919 he represented Japan as chief envoy at the Peace Conference and was invested with the Grand Order of Merit. He was made a prince in 1920 in recognition of his services in connexion with the World War and the Peace Conference.