Marquess Ōkuma Shigenobu was a Japanese statesman and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy. He served as the second Prime Minister of the Empire of Japan in 1898 and from 1914 to 1916. Ōkuma was also an early advocate of Western science and culture in Japan, and founder of Waseda University. He is considered a centrist.

The Meiji oligarchy was the new ruling class of Meiji period Japan. In Japanese, the Meiji oligarchy is called the domain clique .