Ōkubo Toshimichi

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/kubo-toshimichi

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Ōkubo Toshimichi born?September 26, 1830
2. Where was Ōkubo Toshimichi born?Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain (now Kagoshima Prefecture), Japan
3. What is the later career?As Home Minister, consolidated power, drove industrialization, and suppressed samurai uprisings
4. Who was Ōkubo Toshimichi?He was a key leader who helped turn Japan into a modern country. He started as a low‑ranking retainer in the Satsuma Domain and became one of the most influential people in Japanese history.
5. What did Ōkubo do to change Japan's government?He ended the old feudal system called the han in 1871. The domains were replaced with prefectures that were run directly from Tokyo, making Japan a unified nation.

Bakumatsu Period: The final years of the Tokugawa shogunate, characterized by political turmoil and reform movements.
Meiji Restoration: The political revolution that restored practical imperial rule to Japan and, along with the subsequent rapid industrialization and modernization, is the event that marks the beginning of the modern era of Japanese history.
Han System: The feudal system in Japan where domains (han) were ruled by daimyo, prior to their abolition in 1871.
Seikanron: A political debate in 1873 concerning the potential invasion of Korea by Japan.