Ryūichi Kuki

Ryuichi Kuki was born in 1852 in what is now Hyogo, entered the Kuki family by adoption, and studied at Keio before joining the Education Ministry. A visit to the Paris exposition in 1878 brought him into contact with European approaches to art and museums. Cultural administration remained a major part of his career alongside diplomacy. ¹

As minister in Washington, Kuki explained the collapse of Japan’s multilateral treaty revision conference in 1887. On August 9 he delivered Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru’s instructions to Assistant Secretary of State James D. Porter. Japan objected to arrangements that appeared to place its new legal codes under foreign approval and had suspended the conference while completing its legislation. Secretary of State Bayard acknowledged Kuki’s communication and expressed support for an eventual settlement that protected foreign residents while recognizing Japanese administrative autonomy. ^{2, 3}

After returning to Japan, Kuki chaired the national treasures investigation bureau established in 1888 and became the Imperial Museum’s first director-general in 1889. The bureau surveyed more than 215,000 documents, paintings, sculptures, and other objects before its functions passed to the museum in 1897. His later offices included the House of Peers and Privy Council. He died in 1931. ^{1, 4}