Marquess Ōkuma Shigenobu (大隈 重信, March 11, 1838 – January 10, 1922) was a Japanese politician who served as the prime minister of Japan in 1898, and from 1914 to 1916.

Born in the Saga Domain, Ōkuma was appointed minister of finance soon after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, aided by his friendship with genrō Inoue Kaoru.

He returned to office as foreign minister in 1888, and focused on revising the unequal treaties imposed on Japan; his approach was viewed by some as too conciliatory to the Western powers, leading to an assassination attempt in 1889 and the loss of a leg.

[citation needed] During a trip to Nagasaki, Ōkuma met a Dutch missionary named Guido Verbeck, who taught him the English language and provided him with copies of the New Testament and the American Declaration of Independence,[4] as well as works on scientific subjects.

to have affected his political thinking profoundly,[citation needed] and encouraged him to support efforts to abolish the existing feudal system and work toward the establishment of a constitutional government.

At this time, he negotiated with British diplomat, Sir Harry Smith Parkes on the ban of Christianity and insisted on maintaining the government's persecution on Catholics in Nagasaki.

[8] He also unified the nation's currency, created the national mint, and a separate Minister of Industry; however, he was dismissed in 1881 after a long series of disagreements with members of the Satsuma and Chōshū clique in the Meiji oligarchy, most notably Itō Hirobumi, over his efforts to secure foreign loans, to establish a constitution, and especially over his exposure of illicit property dealings involving Prime Minister Kuroda Kiyotaka and others from Satsuma.

In 1882, Ōkuma co-founded the Constitutional Progressive Party (Rikken Kaishintō) which soon attracted a number of other leaders, including Ozaki Yukio and Inukai Tsuyoshi.

[9] Despite their continuing animosity, Itō again appointed Ōkuma to the post of Foreign Minister in February 1888 to deal with the difficult issue of negotiation revisions to the "unequal treaties" with the Western powers.

[8] In June 1898, Ōkuma co-founded the Kenseitō (Constitutional Government Party), by merging his Shimpotō with Itagaki Taisuke's Jiyūtō, and was appointed by the Emperor to form the first partisan cabinet in Japanese history.

After his political retirement, Ōkuma became president of Waseda University and chairman of the Japan Civilization Society, from which scholars' many translations of European and American texts were published.

At the request of the Emperor, Ōkuma returned to politics during the constitutional crisis of 1914, when the government of Yamamoto Gonnohyōe was forced to resign in the wake of the Siemens scandal.

[11] Later in 1916, after a long argument with the Genrō, Ōkuma resigned as well, and retired from politics permanently, although he remained a member of the Upper House of the Diet of Japan until 1922.

He was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum in 1916, and was elevated to the title of kōshaku (侯爵) (marquis) in the kazoku peerage system the same year.