was a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 revolution

Revolution

A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...

ary democrat

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 active in the Freedom and People's Rights Movement

Freedom and People's Rights Movement

The was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in 1880s....

.

Ueki was the son of a middle ranking samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 from Tosa

Tosa District, Kochi

is a district located in Kōchi, Japan.As of the January 1, 2005 merger but with 2003 population estimates, the district has an estimated population of 5,348 and a density of 17.4 persons per km²...

. Inspired by Itagaki Taisuke

Itagaki Taisuke

Count was a Japanese politician and leader of the , which evolved into Japan's first political party.- Early life :Itagaki Taisuke was born into a middle-ranking samurai family in Tosa Domain, , After studies in Kōchi and in Edo, he was appointed as sobayonin to Tosa daimyo Yamauchi Toyoshige,...

, he became involved in the Jiyūtō

Liberal Party of Japan (1881)

The is the name of several liberal political parties in the history of Japan, two of which existed in the Empire of Japan prior to 1945.-Liberal Party of 1881:...

. In 1875 he was thrown in jail under the Newspaper Act for writing an article critical of the government. Upon release he wrote an article Freedom is worth purchasing with one's own blood. In 1881 he wrote A Private Draft of the Japanese Constitution, which gave provision for the overthrow of oppressive government.

In 1882 Ueki visited Fukushima

Fukushima, Fukushima

is the capital city of Fukushima Prefecture in the Tōhoku Region of Japan. As of May 2011 the city has an estimated population of 290,064 and an area of 746.43 km².It lies about 250 km north of Tokyo and 80 km south of Sendai.-History:...

 in August and September at the invitation of the Fukushima Jiyūtō branch to help set up the Fukushima Jiyū Shimbun the local party newspaper, before returning to Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 to replace Baba Tatsui on the central party newspaper Jiyū Shimbun.