Members of the Iwakura Mission,1873. The leader of the mission, Iwakura Tomomi, seated in centre.

Members of the Iwakura Mission,1873. The leader of the mission, Iwakura Tomomi, seated in centre.

The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy (Iwakura Shisetsudan) was a Japanese diplomatic journey around the world, initiated in 1871 by the oligarchs of the Meiji period. Although it was not the only such 'mission', it is the most well-known and possibly most important for the modernization of Japan after a long period of isolation from the West. It was first proposed by the influential Dutch missionary and engineer Guido Verbeck and was probably based on the model of the Grand Embassy of Peter I. The Iwakura mission followed several such missions previously sent by the Shogunate, such as the Japanese Embassy to the United States (1860), the First Japanese Embassy to Europe (1862), and the Second Japanese Embassy to Europe (1863).

Album / Pictures From History/Universal Images Group

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