Kishichiro Okura
Baron Kishichiro Okura (大倉 喜七郎 Ōkura Kishichirō?, June 16, 1882 – February 2, 1963) studied at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1903 to 1906 but he did not graduate from Cambridge University. He was a son of Okura Kihachiro (1837-1928) who as an entrepreneur built up the Okura-gumi and founded the giant Okura Zaibatsu (family owned conglomerate) and the Okura Shogyo Gakko which later became Tokyo Keizai University (Tokyo University of Economics) in 1949.
Okura competed in the first ever car race held at Brooklands in Surrey on July 6, 1907 and came second. He is one of the pioneers who introduced the motor car to Japan. He was the President of the Imperial Hotel, and the Okura luxury hotel chain is still an important one in Japan today.
Okura Kishichiro was a primary patron in the establishment of the Nihon Ki-in or Japanese Go Association in 1924, organizing and supporting professional go players in Japan following the Meiji Restoration and subsequent ceasing of government support for the four go houses.
See also
- Suematsu Kenchō
- Kikuchi Dairoku
- Inagaki Manjirō
- Cambridge University
- Anglo-Japanese relations
- Japanese students in Britain
External links
- Reminiscences from the website of the Cambridge & Oxford Society, Tokyo
- Japanese Students at Cambridge University in the Meiji Era, 1868-1912: Pioneers for the Modernization of Japan, by Noboru Koyama, translated by Ian Ruxton. Lulu Press, September 2004, ISBN 1-4116-1256-6
