, (May 27, 1868 – March 27, 1904) was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He commanded the cargo vessel ''Fukui Maru'' during the Battle of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War. The ship was hit by coastal artillery, and despite being wounded, he drowned while looking for other survivors of the sinking, going down with his ship. His selfless sacrifice elevated him to the status of a deified national hero.

Biography

Born in what is now Taketa, Ōita, his father Hirose Shigetake was a judge, while his elder brother

Hirose Katsuhiko (September 20, 1862October 20, 1920) was a Japanese Rear-Admiral of the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. He was known as the elder brother of the war hero Hirose Takeo as well as the commander of the '' Akitsushima'' during ...

was a

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

. He studied at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in Etajima, graduating from the 15th class in 1889. He served aboard the ironclad warship during the First Sino-Japanese War and saw action at the Battle of Yalu River on September 17, 1894. From 1897 to 1899 Hirose was sent to study in Russia and stayed on as the resident

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

in St. Petersburg until 1902. During his time as attaché he went on a tour of Germany, France and Great Britain. He was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1900. When

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

went to war against Russia in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Hirose was assigned to the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

as torpedo officer. However, during the Battle of Port Arthur he volunteered to command the ''Fukui Maru'', an old cargo vessel which was used as a blockship during the second unsuccessful attempt to blockade the entrance to Port Arthur on the night of March 26. As the ship was about to reach the channel, it was hit by Russian coastal artillery and exploded. Hirose was fatally wounded while searching for survivors and went down with the ship. Because of his heroism, he was posthumously promoted to commander, and deified as a "martial spirit" (軍神 ''gunshin''), and a

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

was built in his honor in Taketa, Oita. A statue of him was also erected outside the

Manseibashi Railway Station can refer to two closed railway stations all in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. One was a railway station on the Japanese Government Railways Chūō Main Line and the other was a subway station in the Tokyo Subway network. Both stations were closed by 1 ...

in Tokyo until 1947.

Cultural references

Song of Commander Hirose
was a ''Monbusho Shoka'', or a song authorized by the Ministry of Education, a predecessor of the current

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community ...

. Hirose was the subject of the epic historical novel ''

Saka no Ue no Kumo , or "Clouds Above the Hill" is a Japanese historical novel by Shiba Ryōtarō originally published serially from 1968 to 1972 in eight volumes. A three-year NHK television special drama series based on the novel and also entitled '' Saka no U ...

'', by author Ryōtarō Shiba. The novel became the basis for the NHK television drama ''Saka no Ue no Kumo'', in which Hirose portrayed by ex-Olympic swimmer and actor

Takahiro Fujimoto is an actor and a retired male medley swimmer from Japan, who represented his native country in two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1988. His best Olympic result was the 8th place (4:23.86) in the Men's 400m Individual Medley event at ...

References

*Connaughton, R.M (1988). ''The War of the Rising Sun and the Tumbling Bear—A Military History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904–5'', London, . *Jukes, Geoffry. ''The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905''. Osprey Essential Histories. (2002). . *

External links

Portrait of Takeo Hirose
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirose, Takeo 1868 births 1904 deaths Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War People from Ōita Prefecture Imperial Japanese Navy officers Japanese military personnel killed in the Russo-Japanese War Captains who went down with the ship Deified Japanese people

Biography

Cultural references

See also

References

External links