Count Kuroda Kiyotaka (16 October 1840 - 23 August 1900) was a Japanese politician of the Meiji era, and the second Prime Minister of Japan from 30 April 1888 to 25 October 1889. Count Inoue Kaoru (16 January 1836 - 1 September 1915) was a Japanese statesman and a member of the Meiji oligarchy that ruled Japan during the Meiji period (1868-1912). Nishiki-e (lit. 'brocade picture') refers to Japanese multi-colored woodblock printing; this technique is used primarily in ukiyo-e ('pictures of the floating world'). It was invented in the 1760s, and perfected and popularized by the printmaker Suzuki Harunobu, who produced a great many nishiki-e prints between 1765 and his death five years later. Previously, most prints had been in black-and-white, colored by hand, or colored with the addition of one or two color ink blocks. A nishiki-e print is created by carving a separate woodblock for every color, and using them in a stepwise fashion. An engraver by the name of Kinroku is credited with t