Born into the Hattori, a low-ranking samurai family of Owari domain (Aichi), he was later adopted into the Katō family. He studied English and other Western learning in Nagoya, then went on to Tokyo to continue his studies.
He graduated top of his class from the law faculty of Tokyo University and joined Mitsubishi. Spotted by its president Iwasaki Yatarō, he was sent to Britain to study shipping and other business.
He married Haruji, eldest daughter of Iwasaki Yatarō. His close ties with Mitsubishi later became a great support for his political career.
He entered the Foreign Ministry and soon became private secretary to the foreign minister Ōkuma Shigenobu. His ties with Ōkuma began at this time.
He became Japanese minister to Britain. Watching British parliamentary government at close hand, he took it as his model for party politics. He also argued early for an alliance between Japan and Britain.
He became foreign minister in Itō Hirobumi's fourth cabinet. He served as foreign minister several more times and was known as an expert in diplomacy.
He joined the Rikken Dōshikai, the new party Katsura Tarō set out to form, and after Katsura's death became its leader. Though a former bureaucrat, he chose the path of a party politician.
As foreign minister in Ōkuma Shigenobu's second cabinet, he led Japan into World War I on the grounds of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
He presented China with the Twenty-One Demands and forced it to accept most of them. But this provoked fierce resentment among the Chinese people and drew criticism at home and abroad.
He merged the Dōshikai and other groups into the Kenseikai and became its president. A long period in opposition followed, and those hard years were called "ten years of hardship".
In the second constitutional movement, the three pro-constitution parties, the Kenseikai, the Rikken Seiyūkai and the Kakushin Club, won the election, and he became prime minister.
He passed the Universal Suffrage Law, which gave the right to vote to all men aged 25 and over. At the same time the Peace Preservation Law, used to suppress social movements, was enacted. He also opened diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
He fell ill while in office as prime minister and died while the Diet was in session. After him, for some years, the "normal course of constitutional government" held, under which the leader of the majority party became prime minister.
Iwasaki YatarōŌkuma ShigenobuItō HirobumiKatsura Tarō
Takahashi KorekiyoInukai TsuyoshiHara TakashiOzaki YukioKatō TomosaburōMakino TomitarōNagaoka HantarōMinakata Kumagusu
People of the Taishō period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.