Kiyoura Keigo
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Count Kiyoura Keigo (清浦 奎吾 Kiyoura Keigo; February 14 1850–November 5 1942) was a Japanese politician and the 23rd Prime Minister of Japan from January 7 1924 to June 11 1924.
He was born in Kamoto-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture, the fifth son of a Buddhist priest named Okubo Ryoshi: his birth name was "Fujaku." He studied at the private school of Hirose Tanso from 1865 to 1871. During this time, he befriended Governor Nomura Morihide and took up the name "Kiyoura Keigo."
Nomura was appointed governor of Saitama Prefecture in 1873 and appointed Kiyoura to a junior-grade civil service position there. In 1876, at the age of twenty-seven, Kiyoura joined the Ministry of Justice. He went on to serve as Vice Minister of Justice, Minister of Justice, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, and Minister of State, a leader in Yamagata Aritomo's civil service system.
In 1914, while he was Chairman of the Privy Council, Kiyoura received an imperial order to form a new cabinet following Yamamoto Gonnohyoe. However, Kiyoura declined the post in protest of the ongoing Siemens case, and Okuma Shigenobu was chosen to become prime minister.
Kiyoura received a second imperial order in 1924 and formed a cabinet, becoming Prime Minister of Japan. However, his cabinet was formed at a time when non-partisan, aristocratic cabinets were falling out of favor, and the Diet's lower house held up most of its initiatives for all six months of its existence.
| Preceded by: Yamamoto Gonnohyoe | Prime Minister of Japan 1924 | Succeeded by: Kato Takaaki |