Leader of the Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government) Party and a strong advocate of government by political party rather than by interest groups, he became the first commoner to hold the post of Prime Minister (1918–22). Attempts to build links with the business community brought him under suspicion of corruption and he failed either to prevent the breakdown of civil order or stop military intervention in the Russian Civil War. He planned to end the military administration of Taiwan and Korea but was assassinated by a right-wing fanatic.