- Kodama Gentarō
Infobox Military Person
name= Count Kodama Gentarō
lived=16 March 1852 -23 July 1906
placeofbirth=Tokuyama , Sūo provinceJapan
placeofdeath=Tokyo ,Japan
caption= Japanese General Count Kodama Gentarō
nickname=
allegiance=Empire of Japan
branch=
serviceyears=1881 - 1907
rank=General
commands=
unit=
battles=Boshin War Satsuma Rebellion First Sino-Japanese War Russo-Japanese War
awards=Order of the Golden Kite (first class)
family=
laterwork=Cabinet MinisterCount nihongo|Kodama Gentarō|兒玉源太郎|Kodama Gentarō|extra=
16 March 1852 –23 July 1906 was a general in theImperial Japanese Army , and government minister duringMeiji period Japan . He was instrumental in establishing the modern Imperial Japanese military.Biography
Early life
Born in
Tokuyama , Sūo province (modernYamaguchi prefecture ), from a "samurai " class family loyal to theChōshū domain , Kodama began his military career fighting in theBoshin War for theMeiji Restoration against the forces of theTokugawa bakufu . As a soldier in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army, he saw combat during the suppression of theSatsuma Rebellion . He later enrolled in the "Osaka Heigakuryo" (大阪兵学寮)(military training school). He was commissioned in 1881. [ Encyclopedia of Military Biography]Military career
Kodama was appointed head of the Army Staff College, where he worked with German Major
Jakob Meckel to reorganize the modern Japanese military after the Prussian system. [ Harries, Soldiers of the Sun]Kodama went on to study military science as a
military attache toGermany . After his return to Japan, he was appointed Vice-minister of War in 1892.After his service in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-5), Kodama became
Governor-General of Taiwan . During his tenure, he did much to improve on the infrastructure of Taiwan and to alleviate the living conditions of the inhabitants. [Ching, Becoming Japanese ] Having proved himself an excellent administrator, Kodama spent the following decade serving as Minister of the Army under Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi, retaining the post and taking on the concurrent roles of Minister of Home Affairs and Education under the following Prime MinisterKatsura Taro .In 1904, Kodama was promoted to full
general . However, he was asked by MarshalOyama Iwao to be Chief of General Staff of the Manchurian Army during theRusso-Japanese War . This was a step down for him in terms of rank, but he nevertheless chose to take the position; it was a sacrifice which elicited much public applause. Throughout the Russo-Japanese War he guided the strategy of the whole campaign, as GeneralKawakami Soroku had done in theFirst Sino-Japanese War ten years previously. [ Connaughton, Rising Sun and Tumblin Bear ] Following the war, he was named Chief of theImperial Japanese Army General Staff , but he died soon afterwards.Kodama was raised in rapid succession to the ranks of "danshaku" (
baron ), "shishaku" (viscount ) and "hakushaku" (count ) under the "kazoku " peerage system, and his death in 1907 of acerebral hemorrhage was regarded as a national calamity. [ Encyclopedia of Military Biography ] After his deathEmperor Meiji posthumously awarded him with the first-ever 1st degree of theOrder of the Golden Kite ; he later received the ultimate honor of being raised to the ranks ofShinto "kami ;" shrines to his honor still exist at his home town inShunan ,Yamaguchi prefecture , and on the site of his summer home onEnoshima ,Fujisawa ,Kanagawa prefecture .References
Books
*cite book
last = Connaughton
first = Richard
year = 2003
title = Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear
publisher = Cassell
location =
id = ISBN 0-304-36657-9
*cite book
last = Ching
first = Leo T.S.
year = 2001
title =Becoming Japanese: Colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation
publisher = University of California Press
location =
id = ISBN 0520225538
*cite book
last = Dupuy
first = Trevor N.
year = 1992
title = Encyclopedia of Military Biography
publisher = I B Tauris & Co Ltd
location =
id = ISBN 1-85043-569-3
*cite book
last = Kowner
first = Rotem
year = 2006
title = Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War
publisher = Scarecrow
location =
id = ISBN 0-8108-4927-5
*cite book
last = Harries
first = Meirion
year = 1994
title = Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army
publisher = Random House
location =
id = ISBN 0-679-75303-6
*Mutsu, Gorō (1985). "Kodama Gentarō." Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.External links
*cite web
last =National Diet Library
first =
url = http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/77.html?c=7
title = Kodama, Gentaro
work = Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical FiguresNotes
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