Saionji Kinmochi

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Junior First Rank Prince Saionji Kinmochi
西園寺 公望
President of the Privy Council
In office 27 August 1900 – 13 July 1903
Monarch	Meiji
Preceded by	Kuroda Kiyotaka
Succeeded by	Itō Hirobumi
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 30 August 1911 – 21 December 1912
Monarchs	Meiji Taishō
Preceded by	Katsura Tarō
Succeeded by	Katsura Tarō
In office 7 January 1906 – 14 July 1908
Monarch	Meiji
Preceded by	Katsura Tarō
Succeeded by	Katsura Tarō
Acting prime minister of Japan (while being President of the Privy Council)
In office 10 May 1901 – 2 June 1901
Monarch	Meiji
Preceded by	Itō Hirobumi as Prime Minister of Japan
Succeeded by	Katsura Tarō as Prime Minister of Japan
Personal details
Born	(1849-12-07)7 December 1849 Kyoto, Japan
Died	24 November 1940(1940-11-24) (aged 90) Okitsu, Shizuoka, Japan
Political party	Constitutional Association of Political Friendship
Alma mater	University of Paris
Signature

Prince Saionji Kinmochi (西園寺 公望, 7 December 1849 – 24 November 1940) was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1906 to 1908, and from 1911 to 1912. As the last surviving member of the genrō, the group of senior statesmen who had directed policy during the Meiji era, he was one of the most influential voices in Japanese politics from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s. For much of his career, Saionji worked to diminish the influence of the Imperial Japanese Army in political issues.

Born in Kyoto to a noble family, Saionji took part in the Boshin War and Meiji Restoration of 1868. From 1871 to 1880, he studied European law and political institutions in France, and founded Meiji University in 1881. In 1882, Saionji again traveled to Europe with Itō Hirobumi to study constitutional law. On his return, he joined the Privy Council, serving as its president from 1900 to 1903, and twice served as Minister of Education in Itō's cabinets. In 1900, Saionji assisted Itō in organizing the Rikken Seiyūkai party. Both of Saionji's premierships ended under pressure from an expansionist military. He led the Japanese delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and was given the title of prince in 1920. Saionji was on the list of those to be assassinated in the February 26 incident, a failed coup in 1936, but survived and died in 1940.