Sōkichi Takagi

Infobox Military Person
name= Sōkichi Takagi
lived= 9 August 1893 – 27 July 1979 [Nishida, "Imperial Japanese Navy".]
placeofbirth=Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto, Japan
placeofdeath=Chigasaki, Kanagawa, Japan


caption= Japanese Admiral Sōkichi Takagi
nickname=
allegiance=Empire of Japan
branch=navy|Empire of Japan
serviceyears=1915-1945
rank=Rear Admiral
commands=
unit=
battles=World War II
awards=
family=
laterwork=nihongo|Sōkichi Takagi|高木惣吉|Takagi Sōkichi|extra= 9 August 1893 – 27 July 1979 was a Japanese admiral and political figure opposed to the Tojo government during World War II. Takagi's efforts to undermine the Japanese wartime government have been compared with the efforts of German Admiral Wilhelm Canaris to undermine the Nazi government, and contributed to the end of the war.

Biography

Takagi was born in what is now part of Hitoyoshi city Kumamoto prefecture in Kyūshū. He graduated from the 43rd class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy in 1915, ranked 27th out of 96 cadets. He served his midshipman duty aboard the cruiser "Iwate" and the battleship "Aki", and was assigned to "Chitose" and "Akashi" after he was commissioned an ensign.

Takagi attended Navigation School and was promoted to lieutenant in 1921, after which he served as chief navigator on the destroyer "Hokaze", submarine tender "Komahashi" and patrol vessel "Manshu".

Takagi graduated from Naval War College (Japan) in 1927, upon which he was promoted to lieutenant commander and posted as naval attaché to France until 1930. After his return, he served as private secretary to the Navy Minister for two years before being appointed commander and instructor of the Naval War College from 1933 to 1936.

In 1937, Takagi was promoted to captain becoming Chief of the Navy Ministry's Research Section. While head of the government organization, Takagi often over stretched the predefined powers of his office acting as a political contact for the Navy through government officials and statesmen such as Fumimaro Konoe, Kōichi Kido, and Saionji Kinmochi as well as developing contacts of intellectuals within the government.

An opponent of Japan's decision to declare war on the United States, Takagi was removed from his position of the Research Section in 1942 and was reassigned as chief of staff of the Maizuru Naval District. Promoted to rear admiral on 1 May 1943, Takagi (who due to his access and unique knowledge of classified files from his time as chief of the Research Section) was asked by Navy Minister Shigetaro Shimada in September to compile a report analyzing Japanese defeats during the Pacific campaign of 1942. Going far beyond its original purpose, Takagi's analysis of combat evidence, conditions in the home islands, as well as air and shipping losses as of that year convinced Takagi of Japan's inevitable defeat. Believing the only solution for Japan was the elimination of the Tojo-led government and a truce with the United States, Takagi was hesitant to present the report to Shimada, instead beginning planning for the assassination of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo before his removal from office in July 1944.

As a member of the Navy Staff College's Research Department, Takagi was encouraged by the newly appointed Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai to compose an ultrasecret document proposing the most favorable scenario for Japan's eventual withdrawal from the Pacific, a project he continued working on in cooperation with other government officials until Japan's surrender in August 1945.

He later worked with Teiji Yabe, a professor of Tokyo Imperial University, on revising the Japanese constitution in October 1945.

Takagi died in 1979 at his home in Chigasaki, Kanagawa, and his grave is at the temple of Tokei-ji in Kamakura.

References

*cite book
last = Alperovitz
first = Gar
authorlink =
year = 1996
title = The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb
publisher = Vintage
location =
id = ISBN: 067976285X

*cite book
last = Butow
first = Robert C.
authorlink =
year = 1954
title = Japan's Decision to Surrender
publisher = Stanford University Press
location =
id = ASIN: B000VFCC14
*cite book
last = Harries
first = Merrion
authorlink =
year = 1994
title = Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army
publisher = Random House
location =
id = ISBN: 0679753036

External links

*cite web
last = Nishida
first = Hiroshi
url = http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/px43.htm#r023
title = Imperial Japanese Navy
accessdate = 2007-08-25
* [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/index.htm The Atomic Bomb and the end of World War II from The National Security Archive]

Notes