Overseas study, diplomacy and the Meirokusha
Mori was born into a Satsuma retainer family and studied at the domain’s Zōshikan and Kaiseijo. Sent to Britain in 1865, he subsequently visited the United States and returned to Japan in 1868. He held foreign-affairs and institutional posts in the new government, temporarily withdrew from office, and later served in the United States.
In 1873 he helped establish the Meirokusha, which discussed and introduced Western ideas. Subsequent appointments included minister to Qing China and Britain and work connected with educational administration. With the establishment of the cabinet system in 1885, he became the first minister of education, serving under Itō Hirobumi and Kuroda Kiyotaka.
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Commercial education and institutional work
While stationed in the United States, Mori became interested in developing commercial education and recruited the American William Whitney as a teacher. He participated in establishing the Commercial Training School in 1875. Through later institutional changes, the school became a predecessor of Hitotsubashi University.
In 1885 Mori supervised Tokyo Commercial School and supported its principal, Yano Jirō. Hitotsubashi’s commemorative account records both the recruitment of a teacher and this later administrative involvement. In a personal admonition written in 1886, Mori urged education officials to understand their particular responsibilities and continue improving the ministry’s work.
Elementary-school rules and the cost of attendance
The Elementary School Order of 10 April 1886 established ordinary and higher stages of four years each. It required parents or guardians to keep children in school until they completed the ordinary course. Ages six to fourteen defined the school-age range; the compulsory course itself lasted four years. Curriculum regulations followed in May.
Fees and donations were the main sources of ordinary-school funding, with local support available for shortfalls. Illness or household poverty could justify postponement. The ministry’s history records declining enrollment in 1887 as fees increased, showing the financial difficulties of implementing the rules. Mori was attacked on 11 February 1889 and died the following day; educational legislation continued to change after his death.