Ministry of the Navy of Japan

Navy Ministry in Tokyo

The Navy Ministry of Japan (海軍省, Kaigunshō^?) was a cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). It existed from 1872 to 1945.

History

The Navy Ministry was created in April 1872, along with the Army Ministry, to replace the Ministry of the Military (兵部省, Hyōbushō^?) of the early Meiji government.

Initially, the Navy Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of the Imperial Japanese Navy. However, with the creation of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff in May 1893, it was left with only administrative functions.

"The ministry was responsible for the naval budget, ship construction, weapons procurement, personnel, relations with the Diet and the cabinet and broad matters of naval policy. The General Staff directed the operations of the fleet and the preparation of war plans".^[1] The post of Navy Minister was politically powerful. Although a member of the Cabinet after the establishment of the cabinet system of government in 1885, the Navy Minister was answerable directly to the Emperor (the commander-in-chief of all Japanese armed forces under the Meiji Constitution) and not the Prime Minister.

Up until the 1920s, the Navy Ministry held the upper hand over the Navy General Staff in terms of political influence. However, the officers of the Navy General Staff found an opportunity at the Washington Naval Conference in 1921-22 to improve their situation. At this meeting, the United States and Britain wanted to establish a worldwide naval ratio, asking the Japanese to limit themselves to a smaller navy than the Western powers. The Naval Ministry was willing to agree to this, seeking to maintain the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, but the Navy General Staff refused. The Imperial Japanese Navy became divided into mutually hostile Fleet Faction and Treaty Faction political cliques. Ultimately, the treaty was signed by Japan, but terminated in 1934. Through the 1930s, with increasing Japanese militarism, the Fleet Faction gradually gained ascendancy over the Treaty Faction and came to dominate the Navy General Staff, which pushed through the attack on Pearl Harbor against the resistance of the Navy Ministry.

After 1937, both the Navy Minister and the Chief of the Navy General Staff were members of the Imperial General Headquarters.

With the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II, the Navy Ministry was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Navy by the American occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived in the post-war Constitution of Japan.

Organization

Internally Operating Divisions

Imperial Japanese Military

Administration Imperial General Headquarters Components  Imperial Japanese Army (Dai Nippon Teikoku Rikugun)         Imperial Japanese Army Air Force         Railways and Shipping Section     Uniforms  Imperial Japanese Navy (Dai Nippon Teikoku Kaigun)         Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service         Imperial Japanese Navy Land Forces     Major battles     List of ships     List of aircraft     Main admirals Rank insignia Army rank insignia Naval rank insignia History of the Japanese Military Military History of Japan during World War II

• Military Affairs Bureau
• Mobilization Bureau
• Technical Bureau
• Personnel Bureau
• Training Bureau
• Medical Bureau
• Shipyard Bureau
• Naval Construction Bureau
• Legal Bureau
• Administrative/Accounting Bureau

Externally Operating Divisions

• Navy Aviation Bureau
• Navy Academy
• Naval War College (Japan)
• Naval Accounting School
• Navy Medical School
• Naval Engineering School
• Submarine Division
• Canals and Waterways Division
• Naval Technical Department
• Naval Tribunal
• Tokyo Naval Tribunal
• Chemical Warfare Division
• Radio and Radar Division
• Supply and Transport Bureau
• Naval Construction Division
• Naval Maintenance & Repair Division
• Special Attack Weapons Division
• Emergency Reaction Division
• Naval Aviation Training Division
• Naval Intelligence Division

Ministers of the Navy of Japan

By law, Navy Ministers had to be appointed from active duty admirals or vice-admirals.

Naval Lords under the Ministry of Military Affairs

• Katsu Kaishū
• Kawamura Sumiyoshi
• Enomoto Takeaki (28 February 1880 - 7 April 1881)
• Nakamuta Kuranosuke
• Kabayama Sukenori

Naval Ministers under the Meiji Constitution

	Name	Cabinet	From	To
1	Saigō Tsugumichi	1st Itō	22 December 1885	30 April 1888
2	Saigō Tsugumichi	Kuroda	30 April 1888	24 December 1889
3	Saigō Tsugumichi	1st Yamagata	24 December 1889	17 May 1890
4	Kabayama Sukenori	1st Yamagata	17 May 1890	6 May 1891
5	Kabayama Sukenori	1st Matsukata	6 May 1891	8 August 1892
6	Nire Kagenori	2nd Itō	8 August 1892	11 March 1893
7	Saigō Tsugumichi	2nd Itō	11 March 1893	11 September 1896
8	Saigō Tsugumichi	2nd Matsukata	11 September 1896	12 January 1898
9	Saigō Tsugumichi	3rd Itō	12 January 1898	30 June 1898
10	Saigō Tsugumichi	1st Ōkuma	30 June 1898	8 November 1898
11	Yamamoto Gonnohyōe	2nd Yamagata	8 November 1898	19 October 1900
12	Yamamoto Gonnohyōe	4th Itō	19 October 1900	2 June 1901
13	Yamamoto Gonnohyōe	1st Katsura	2 June 1901	7 January 1906
14	Saitō Makoto	1st Saionji	7 January 1906	14 July 1908
15	Saitō Makoto	2nd Katsura	14 July 1908	30 August 1911
16	Saitō Makoto	2nd Saionji	30 August 1911	21 December 1912
17	Saitō Makoto	3rd Katsura	21 December 1912	20 February 1913
18	Saitō Makoto	1st Yamamoto	20 February 1913	16 April 1914
19	Yashiro Rokurō	2nd Ōkuma	16 April 1914	8 October 1915
20	Katō Tomosaburō	2nd Ōkuma	8 October 1915	9 October 1916
21	Katō Tomosaburō	Terauchi	9 October 1916	29 September 1918
22	Katō Tomosaburō	Hara	29 September 1918	13 November 1921
23	Katō Tomosaburō	Takahashi	13 November 1921	12 June 1922
24	Katō Tomosaburō	Katō	12 June 1922	15 May 1923
25	Takarabe Takeshi	Katō	15 May 1923	2 September 1923
26	Takarabe Takeshi	2nd Yamamoto	2 September 1923	7 January 1924
27	Murakami Kakuichi	Kiyoura	7 January 1924	11 June 1924
28	Takarabe Takeshi	Katō	11 June 1924	30 January 1926
29	Takarabe Takeshi	1st Wakatsuki	30 January 1926	20 April 1927
30	Okada Keisuke	1st Tanaka	20 April 1927	2 July 1929
31	Takarabe Takeshi	Hamaguchi	2 July 1929	3 October 1930
32	Abo Kiyokazu	Hamaguchi	3 October 1930	14 April 1931
33	Abo Kiyokazu	2nd Wakatsuki	14 April 1931	13 December 1931
34	Ōsumi Mineo	Inukai	13 December 1931	26 May 1932
35	Okada Keisuke	Saitō	26 May 1932	9 January 1933
36	Ōsumi Mineo	Saitō	9 January 1933	8 July 1934
37	Ōsumi Mineo	Okada	8 July 1934	9 March 1936
38	Nagano Osami	Hirota	9 March 1936	2 February 1937
39	Yonai Mitsumasa	Hayashi	2 February 1937	4 June 1937
40	Yonai Mitsumasa	1st Konoe	4 June 1937	5 January 1939
41	Yonai Mitsumasa	1st Hiranuma	5 January 1939	30 August 1939
42	Yoshida Zengo	Abe	30 August 1939	16 January 1940
43	Yoshida Zengo	Yonai	16 January 1940	22 July 1940
44	Yoshida Zengo	2nd Konoe	22 July 1940	5 September 1940
45	Oikawa Koshirō	2nd Konoe	5 September 1940	18 July 1941
46	Oikawa Koshirō	3rd Konoe	18 July 1941	18 October 1941
47	Shimada Shigetarō	Tōjō	18 October 1941	17 July 1944
48	Nomura Naokuni	Tōjō	17 July 1944	22 July 1944
49	Yonai Mitsumasa	Koiso	22 July 1944	7 April 1945
50	Yonai Mitsumasa	Suzuki	7 April 1945	17 August 1945
51	Yonai Mitsumasa	Higashikuni	17 August 1945	9 October 1945
52	Yonai Mitsumasa	Shidehara	9 October 1945	1 December 1945

References

Books

• Asada, Sadao (2006). From Mahan to Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1557500428. 
• Schencking, J. Charles (2005). Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804749779. 
• Spector, Ronald (1985). Eagle Against the Sun. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0394741013. 

External links

• "Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East". Adam Matthew Publications.

Notes

1. ^ Spector