Count was a Japanese statesman of the Meiji era. He was a protégé of the leading oligarch Ità  Hirobumi. As cabinet secretary 1892-1898, he was a powerbroker between the oligarchy and the political powers in the Diet. He grew increasingly conservative and became a watchdog and defender of the constitution in his role as privy councillor, 1899-1934. Biographer George Akita calls him a political failure.
Ità  was born into a local samurai administrator's family in Nagasaki, Hizen Province (present-day Nagasaki Prefecture). From his early days, he showed a mastery of foreign languages. In the new Meiji government he worked as a translation official for Hyà Âgo Prefecture specializing in English, and was later selected to accompany Ità  Hirobumi (no relationâÂÂthe kanji characters for their names being different) to Europe in 1882 to investigate the constitutions and governmental structures of various European countries, with the aim of creating a constitution for Japan.
After his return to Japan, he assisted Inoue Kowashi and Kaneko Kentarà  in drafting the Meiji Constitution, and was subsequently nominated to the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan.
In 1892, he became Chief Cabinet Secretary in Ità  Hirobumi's Second Cabinet, and in 1898, served as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce under the Third Ità  Cabinet.
At the same time, Ità  Miyoji was also president of the pro-government newspaper, the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun (the predecessor to the modern Mainichi Shimbun).
From 1899, Ità  Miyoji served as a member of the Privy Council. In 1907, he was ennobled with the title of danshaku (baron) under the kazoku peerage system. He was further elevated to hakushaku (count) in 1922.
In his later years, Ità  was the bane of civilian government through his consistent and conservative use of the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun to inflame public opinion. During the Shà Âwa financial crisis, he brought out the collapse of the administration of Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirà  through a virulent bad-press campaign. He also strongly criticized Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi for signing the London Naval Treaty on arms limitations as infringing on the direct prerogatives of the emperor.
Ità  died in 1934. His grave is at Tsukiji Hongan-ji in Tokyo.