Nishimura Shigeki

Born to the family of the samurai chief administer to the daimyō of Sakura domain, Shimōsa Province (present-day Chiba Prefecture), Nishimura was originally a Confucian scholar, but he studied rangaku as well.

He was a founding member of the Meirokusha with Mori Arinori, and contributed numerous articles to the Meiroku Zasshi journal, on a wide range of topics, including on the relevance of ethics to government, a comparison of world government systems and world economic systems.

Nishimura established his own intellectual society in 1876 to stress moral values.

This became the Nihon Kodoka (Japan Society for Expansion of the Way), which proved to be a great success.

Nishimura believed that the Meiji government should serve a purpose to the people of Japan.