Ohara Kisaburō

Ohara Kisaburō (小原喜三郎; c. 1885 - 1949) was a prominent Japanese legal scholar active during the late Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa periods, known for his expertise in commercial law, particularly in negotiable instruments (手形, tegata) and banking practices (銀行実務, ginkō jitsumu). He is associated with one map, A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia (滑稽欧亜外交地図 / Kokkei Ō-A Gaikō Chizu), likely produced when he was a student at Keio University (慶應義塾大學) or a graduate student or junior professor at Tokyo Gakushuin (學習院). He later became a professor at Tokyo Imperial University (東京帝国大学, Tōkyō Teikoku Daigaku), he played a key role in modernizing Japan's financial legal system by integrating Western legal theory with Japanese practice. One of his best-known works, 『手形及銀行實務: 英語對照』 (Tegata oyobi Ginkō Jitsumu: Eigo Taishō, Bills and Banking Practices: With English Translation), provided a bilingual reference for legal and financial professionals during Japan's period of internationalization. His work contributed significantly to the development of Japan's legal infrastructure for banking and finance, influencing the standardization of laws concerning promissory notes (約束手形, yakusoku tegata) and bills of exchange (為替手形, kawase tegata).