Born into a foot-soldier family in Kōchi, Tosa.
He went to Nagasaki and began learning French.
He left with the Iwakura Mission and studied in France.
Back home, he opened a school teaching French learning.
With Saionji Kinmochi and others he launched the Tōyō Jiyū Shinbun, advocating liberty and rights.
He published a classical Chinese translation of Rousseau's Social Contract, earning the name "Rousseau of the East".
He published A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government; that year he was expelled from Tokyo.
He won a seat in the first House of Representatives election but resigned the next year.
Told his illness left him little time, he wrote Ichinen Yūhan (A Year and a Half) and died that same year.
Saionji KinmochiHoshi TōruUeki EmoriKōtoku ShūsuiInoue Kowashi
Saigō TsugumichiMutsu MunemitsuInoue KowashiNiijima YaeMori ArinoriTōgō HeihachirōKatsura TarōErwin Bälz
People of the Meiji period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.