Masataka Kawase

Viscount , a.k.a. was a Japanese Shishi, and later, a diplomat. He attended a battle in the 1860s at Chōshū Domain. Especially, in 1865, he was the commander in Kōzan-ji uprising, as Itō Hirobumi, under Shinsaku Takasugi. He also served at the Second Chōshū expedition, and led the Chōshū Army to win.

In the 1870s, Kawase served as Japanese Minister to Rome. In 1876, he concluded successfully negotiations with Italian sculptor Vincenzo Ragusa to take a teaching position at the newly opened government sponsored art school in Tokyo. Kawase later served as Japanese Consul in London from 1884 to 1893. In 1894, he became a member of the Privy Council until his death in 1919.