1839–1905
male
Born as the eldest son of Ono Yasue Yoshinobu, the village headman of Sukumo in the Tosa region, he studied at the “Tekijuku” of Ogata Koan in Osaka, served in the new government formed after the Meiji Restoration, and worked under Okuma Shigenobu but retired from being a government servant in 1874.
After his retirement, he became an advisor for the Mitsubishi Foundation, creating lasting legacies in the business world together with the likes of Iwasaki Yataro. For example, in 1891, Ono, Iwasaki, and Inoue Masaru established the Koiwai Farm, which is a combination of the first character of their family names, and 2 years later in 1893, he became the 3rd President of the Japan Railway Company.
Apparently, he was a man of many interests, dabbling frequently in Haiku poetry, pottery, Bonsai, sword collecting, and Igo. As for pottery, he built a kiln in his private residence at Tokyo’s Asakusa and started making flower pots as well as inviting Seto’s master ceramicist, Kato Masayoshi and got him to make flower vases, tea ware, and bonsai vessels.
The stamp below is of a ware “Made at Ono Gishin’s kiln by Kato Masayoshi”.
