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Mutsu Hirokichi

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Mutsu Hirokichi
陸奥 広吉
Mutsu in 1899
BornMarch 5, 1869
Died1942
Kamakura, Japan
Occupation(s)Diplomat, Educator
SpouseMutsu Iso
ChildrenMutsu Ian Younosuke

Count Mutsu Hirokichi (陸奥 広吉, March 5, 1869 – November 19, 1942) was a Japanese diplomat and an educator in Meiji- and Taishō-period Japan.

He was the oldest son of Mutsu Munemitsu who was Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was sent to the U.K. to study in 1887 as a barrister[1] and by 1895 was appointed to diplomatic positions, residing in London, Washington, DC and Rome. While in Europe he met Gertrude Ethel Passingham whom he later married in 1905. She took the Japanese name Mutsu Iso and followed him back to Japan 1910 where she created a name for herself as a writer.

Mutsu was again called upon to serve as a diplomat in 1914 and was appointed Envoy to Brussels but with failing health he retired to Kamakura[1] in Kanagawa Prefecture until his death in 1942. Count Mustu and his wife were financial sponsors of Kamakura-jo-gakkō, a girl's high school in Kamakura (now Kamakura-jo-gakuin girl's junior high and high school), and exerted themselves to conserve historic site.

Family tree

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Count Mutsu MunemitsuCountess Mutsu Ryōko
Countess Iso MutsuCount Mutsu Hirokichi
Ian Mutsu

References

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  1. ^ a b Hota-Lister, A. The Japan-British Exhibition of 1910: Gateway to the Island Empire of the East. London: Routledge, 2013. pp 49-50