Financial office and the political change of 1881
Matsukata was born into a Kagoshima samurai family on 23 March 1835. After the Restoration he held provincial and fiscal posts, becoming home minister in 1880. When Ōkuma Shigenobu was removed in the political upheaval of 1881, Matsukata became a councillor and finance chief.
The men had disagreed over financial policy, while Itō Hirobumi disputed Ōkuma's parliamentary plans. Matsukata's letter to Itō of 28 October praised the recent political action. The National Diet Library connects it with the decisions to remove Ōkuma and promise a future parliament.
Paper-currency reform and convertibility
After the Satsuma Rebellion, inconvertible paper currency had depreciated against silver. Matsukata used fiscal surpluses to retire notes and supported a central issuing bank. The Bank of Japan opened in 1882, but its first notes appeared in 1885: organization and convertibility developed in stages.
Although he favoured gold, accumulated reserves were mainly silver, so the initial notes were silver-convertible. Japan established a gold standard in 1897 using reserves from the Sino-Japanese War indemnity. Matsukata served as finance minister across several cabinets and combined that office with both premierships.
Rural burdens and later life
Stabilization imposed uneven costs. The Fukui prefectural history records rice falling from roughly ¥4.80 per bale in late 1880 to ¥1.50 in early 1884, without a corresponding reduction in land-tax burdens. Farmers needed more produce to meet monetary obligations.
It also documents land concentration, owner-cultivators becoming tenants and an inspector's 1883 report on difficulty paying taxes. These local records supplement the fiscal account of reform. Matsukata later held Red Cross, Privy Council and court offices, and died on 2 July 1924.