Inoue Masaru

Viscount was the first Director of Railways in Japan and is known as the "father of the Japanese railways".

Biography He was born into the Chōshū clan at Hagi, Yamaguchi, the son of Katsuyuki Inoue. He was briefly adopted into the Nomura family and became known as Nomura Yakichi, though he was later restored to the Inoue family.

Masaru Inoue was brought up as the son of a samurai belonging to the Chōshū fief. At 15, he entered the Nagasaki Naval Academy established by the Tokugawa shogunate under the direction of a Dutch naval officer. In 1863, Inoue and four friends from the Chōshū clan stowed away on a vessel to the United Kingdom. He studied civil engineering and mining at University College London and returned to Japan in 1868. After working for the government as a technical officer supervising the mining industry, he was appointed Director of the Railway Board in 1871. Inoue played a leading role in Japan's railway planning and construction, including the construction of the Nakasendo Railway, the selection of the alternative route (Tokaido), and the proposals for future mainline railway networks.

His tomb is in the triangular area of land where the Tōkaidō Main Line meets the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in Kita-Shinagawa.

Chōshū Five These are the four other members of the "Chōshū Five": Itō Shunsuke (later Itō Hirobumii) Inoue Monta (later Inoue Kaoru) Yamao Yōzō who later studied engineering at the Andersonian Institute, Glasgow, 1866-68 while working at the shipyards by day Endō Kinsuke