Yanagiwara Sakimitsu

Count Yanagiwara Sakimitsu was a Japanese statesman and diplomat. He is the father of the poet and novelist Byakuren Yanagiwara.

He was born in Kyoto to the prominent Yanagiwara family. His sister was Yanagihara Naruko, a concubine of the Emperor Meiji and the mother of Emperor Taishō.

Upon Meiji Restoration, Yanagiwara entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1872, he arrived in Tientsin on a mission of looking into the probability of a treaty between China and Japan. From 1874, he served as Minister Plenipotentiary to China.