Baron was a general in the early

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

Life and military career

Ōkubo was born to a ''

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

'' family; his father was descended from the

Ōkubo clan The were a ''samurai'' kin group which rose to prominence in the Sengoku period and the Edo periods.Meyer, Eva-Maria"Gouverneure von Kyôto in der Edo-Zeit."Universität Tübingen (in German) Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the Ōkubo, as heredita ...

, former ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of Odawara Domain, who served as hereditary

Shinto priest A , also called , is a person responsible for the maintenance of a as well as for leading worship of a given .* ''Kannushi'' (in Japanese), Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version The characters for are sometimes also re ...

s at a shrine in Tōtōmi Province (in what is now

Iwata, Shizuoka former Mitsuke School in Iwata is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 169,897 in 68,215 households and a population density was 1,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Iwata is ...

. Together with his father, he fought as a samurai in the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

of the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, Ogawa attended a military boarding school in Osaka for the fledgling

and was sent to France October 1870 for further training.Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', p. 270. After his return in July 1875, he served in various staff posts within the

Army Ministry The , also known as the Ministry of War, was the cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). It existed from 1872 to 1945. History The Army Ministry was created in ...

. He was made a battalion commander of the IJA 14th Infantry Regiment under the Kumamoto Garrison in May 1880, returning to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in December 1882. He was given command of the IJA 12th Infantry Regiment in March 1886 and promoted to colonel in 1889. In June 1890, he became commandant of the Army’s Toyama Infantry School, and in June 1891 became commandant of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. In 1894, Ōkubo was promoted to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

, and given command of the IJA 7th Infantry Brigade, which saw extensive combat during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...

, especially at Hiacheng and Fengcheng in

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

. It also participated in the conquest of Taiwan. In December 1897, Ōkubo became commander of the 1st Guards Brigade. In 1900, Ōkubo was promoted to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

and chief-of-staff of the Inspectorate General of Military Training. In May 1902, he became commander of the IJA 6th Infantry Division. During the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, the IJA 6th Infantry Division was attached to the Japanese Second Army, but after the

Battle of Shaho The Battle of Shaho ( ja, 沙河会戦 (''Saka no kaisen''), russian: Сражение на реке Шахе) was the second large-scale land battle of the Russo-Japanese War fought along a front centered at the Shaho River along the Mukden– P ...

was transferred to the

Japanese Fourth Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army based in Manchukuo from the Russo-Japanese War until the end of World War II. History Russo-Japanese War The Japanese 4th Army was initially raised on June 24, 1904 in the midst of the Russo-Japan ...

before the

Battle of Mukden The , one of the largest land battles to be fought before World War I and the last and the most decisive major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, was fought from 20 February to 10 March 1905 between Japan and Russia near Mukden ...

. After the war, he was awarded with the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

, 1st class and the Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class. In July 1906, he was transferred to command the

IJA 3rd Division The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the . History The 3rd Division was formed in Nagoya in January 1871 as the , one of six regional commands created in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army. The Nagoya ...

and in September 1907 was elevated to the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ' ...

'' peerage with the title of ''danshaku'' (

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

). After his promotion to full general on 7 August 1908, Ōkubo became commander of the

Chosen Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army that formed a garrison force in Korea under Japanese rule. The Korean Army consisted of roughly 350,000 troops in 1914. History Japanese forces occupied large portions of the Empire of Korea dur ...

in Korea. He entered the reserves on 18 August 1911. After his death in January 1915, he was posthumously raised to 2nd Court Rank.

Decorations

* 1887 –

, 4th class * 1895 – JPN Zuiho-sho (WW2) 3Class BAR

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest ...

, 3rd class * 1901 – JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 3Class BAR

, 3rd class * 1905 – JPN Zuiho-sho (WW2) 1Class BAR

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure * 1906 – JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun * 1906 – JPN Kinshi-kunsho 2Class BAR

Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class * 1915 – JPN Toka-sho BAR

Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers

Foreign Orders

* Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Plum Blossom The Order of the Plum Blossom (also called as Order of the Ehwa) was the Order of chivalry of the Korean Empire. It was the third highest order of Korean Empire. History Order of the Plum Blossom was the part of the establishment of orders in 1 ...

in 1909

References

* * * *

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okubo Haruno 1846 births 1915 deaths Japanese generals Samurai Kazoku People of the First Sino-Japanese War Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Military personnel from Shizuoka Prefecture People of Meiji-period Japan Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers