Okuma, who is hailed as the architect of modern Japan, came from a remote area himself, Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, and went his own way ever since he was a youth, being expelled from school for encouraging his fellow students to oppose the antiquated neo-Confucian education of the time.
有「近代日本設計者」尊號的大隈重信，出身於偏遠九州的佐賀藩，從年輕時代就特立獨行，曾因鼓動同學反抗老式的宋明儒學教育而被學校開除。