ABSTRACT
Mishima Michitsune, a samurai of the powerful Satsuma clan, had played an active part in the Restoration of 1868. Since 1874 he had acquired notoriety as a provincial governor in whom patriotism and the restless energy of a born ‘developer’ were combined with a ruthless disregard for the impact of his measures on the lives and feelings of the citizens under his control. On assuming the governorship of Fukushima in 1882 he had initiated an ambitious programme of roadbuilding, designed, in his own estimation, to civilize the largely mountainous region by opening it up to traffic and trade.
