Iwakura Tomomi (岩倉 具視, October 26, 1825 – July 20, 1883) was a Japanese statesman during the Bakumatsu and Meiji period.

He led the 50-member Iwakura Mission for 18 months in Europe and America, studying modern institutions, technology, and diplomacy.

He promoted a strong imperial system along Western lines, and played a central role in creating financial institutions for the nation.

Iwakura was born in Kyoto,[2] the second son of low-ranking courtier and nobleman, Horikawa Yasuchika (堀川 康親).

[5] Iwakura once showed his daring and disregard for the old customs of the nobility by making his home available as a gambling house in order to earn money.

When Hotta Masayoshi, a Rōjū of the Tokugawa government came to Kyoto to obtain imperial permission to sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan) in 1858, Iwakura gathered courtiers who opposed the treaty and attempted to hinder negotiations between the Shōgun and the Court.

This incident is called the demo of eighty-eight retainers of the Imperial court, and it made Iwakura famous.

It was said that he wanted to postpone signing the treaty because he thought Japan needed to learn about the situation and customs of foreign countries.

[6] After Tairō Ii Naosuke was assassinated in 1860, Iwakura supported the Kobugattai Movement, an alliance of the Court and the Shogunate.

The central policy of this alliance was the marriage of the Shōgun Tokugawa Iemochi and Princess Kazu-no-Miya Chikako, the younger sister of the Emperor Kōmei.

Andō and Kuze became rōjū and began to have power, and they suggested the marriage for the Kōbu gattai, the settlement of the imperial court and the shogunate.

Iwakura suggested that the emperor should let the shogunate promise the executing of the treaty withdrawal and allow the marriage of Kazunomiya and Iemochi.

[5] The emperor accepted Iwakura's opinion, and the marriage of Kazunomiya and Iemochi was officially decided and the shogunate declared to execute jōi.

Emperor Kōmei claimed that Iwakura was innocent, but could not stop people who supported radical Sonnō jōi.

For example, in 1865, Iwakura showed 'Sōrimeichū'(叢裡鳴虫), a written opinion, to Ōkubo Toshimichi and Komatsu Tatewaki from Satsuma clans.

In fact, Iwakura could not easily convince Yamauchi, and their discussion was continued for the long term.

[6] With Ōkubo Toshimichi and Saigō Takamori, on January 3, 1868, he engineered the seizure of the Kyoto Imperial Palace by forces loyal to Satsuma and Chōshū, thus initiating the Meiji Restoration.

He commissioned Imperial banners with the sun and moon on a red field, which helped ensure that the encounters of the Meiji Restoration were generally bloodless affairs.

Some court nobles in Kyoto criticized these reforms, but he promoted these restorations with Sanjō Sanetomi despite their opposition.

[6] Soon after his appointment as Minister of the Right in 1871, he led the two-year around-the-world journey known as the Iwakura mission, visiting the United States and several countries in Europe with the purpose of renegotiating the unequal treaties and gathering information to help effect the modernization of Japan.

Also, he learned the importance of religious problems in the United States and he thought that the prohibition of Christianity was an obstacle to change the unequal treaties.

Realizing that Japan was not in any position to challenge the western powers in its present state, he advocated strengthening the imperial institution, which he felt could be accomplished through a written constitution and a limited form of parliamentary democracy.

A lot of members including Iwakura criticized the sudden mind change of Sanjō, and they requested their disposal.

However, in the early Meiji period, it was not clear what exactly they were doing, and as a result they were more independent than they were later on, and conflicts often occurred, especially between those from feudal lords and those from court nobles.

However, the nobility that Iwakura had in mind was a European-style aristocracy whose mission was solely to support the imperial family.

However, from around 1880 (Meiji 13), the Freedom and People's Rights Movement gained momentum, and discussions on establishing a constitution accelerated.

Although in poor health by early 1883, Iwakura went to Kyoto in May to direct efforts to restore and preserve the imperial palace and the buildings of the old city, many of which had been falling into disrepair since the transfer of the capital to Tokyo.

The Meiji Emperor sent his personal physician, Erwin Bälz, to examine Iwakura; Baelz diagnosed advanced throat cancer.

He is an ancestor to actor Ken Uehara, singer Yūzō Kayama, and actress Emi Ikehata.

His appearance from bakumatsu to the early Meiji period was lucky for the Imperial Household, the state, and citizens."