Viscount
A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status.
In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...
was a
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
general in the
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 ...
and a government minister during the
Meiji period
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
. He was instrumental in establishing the modern
Imperial Japanese military.
Early life
Kodama was born on March 16, 1852, in
Tokuyama,
Tsuno,
Suō Province
was a province of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Suō bordered on Aki, Iwami, and Nagato Provinces.
The ancient provincial capital was in Hōfu. Suō was ruled for much o ...
, the first son of the
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 ...
Kodama Hankurō. His father was a mid-ranking samurai with a 100 ''
koku
The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...
'' landholding. At the time, the Kodama family had two daughters, Hisako and then Nobuko, and since Kodama was the first male member of the family, his birth was greatly appreciated by the whole family. When Kodama was born, his father, Hankurō, was at the house of his friend Shimada Mitsune, a scholar of
Chinese poetry
Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernacular forms of the language, its poetry ...
, who lived across the street and was enjoying poetry with four or five other people. When a family member hurriedly arrived to announce the birth of a son, Hankurō was overjoyed and rushed straight home to raise a toast.
Military career
Kodama began his military career by fighting 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 ...
for 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 ...
against the forces of the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
in 1868. He was appointed a non-commissioned officer on 2 June 1870, advanced to sergeant major on 10 December, and promoted to warrant officer on 15 April 1871. He was commissioned a second lieutenant on 6 August and promoted to lieutenant on 21 September. He was promoted to captain on 25 July 1872 and to major on 19 October 1874.
As a soldier in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army, he saw combat during the suppression of the
Satsuma Rebellion
The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and beca ...
. He later enrolled in the ''Osaka Heigakuryo'' (大阪兵学寮) Military Training School).
[Encyclopedia of Military Biography] Successive and rapid promotions followed: lieutenant-colonel on 30 April 1880, colonel on 6 February 1883, and major-general on 24 August 1889.
Kodama was appointed head of the
Army Staff College
Staff colleges (also command and staff colleges and War colleges) train military officers in the administrative, military staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career. For exa ...
, where he worked with German Major
Jakob Meckel
Klemens Wilhelm Jacob Meckel (28 March 1842 – 5 July 1905) was a general in the Prussian army and foreign advisor to the government of Meiji period Japan.
Biography
Meckel was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, Prussia and joined the Prussia ...
to reorganize the modern Japanese military after the
Prussian military.
Kodama went on to study military science as a
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 ...
to Germany. After his return to Japan, he was appointed
Vice-minister of War in 1892.
After his service in the
Sino-Japanese War (1894–1i95), Kodama became
Governor-General of Taiwan
The governor-general of Taiwan ( ja, 臺灣總督, Taiwan Sōtoku) was the head of the Government-General of Taiwan in the Japanese era (including Formosa and the Pescadores) when they were part of the Empire of Japan, from 1895 to 1945.
The Jap ...
. During his tenure, he did much to improve on the infrastructure of Taiwan and to alleviate the living conditions of the inhabitants. He was promoted to lieutenant general on 14 October 1896. Having proved himself an excellent administrator, Kodama spent the following decade serving as
Minister of the Army under
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Itō Hirobumi
was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the ''genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era.
A London-educated samur ...
. Kodama retained the post and took on the concurrent roles of
Minister of Home Affairs
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
and
Education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
under the following prime minister,
Katsura Tarō
Prince was a Japanese politician and general of the Imperial Japanese Army who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1901 to 1906, from 1908 to 1911, and from 1912 to 1913.
Katsura was a distinguished general of the First Sino-Japanese W ...
.
On 6 June 1904, Kodama was promoted to full
general
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
. However, he was asked by
Marshal
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
Ōyama Iwao
was a Japanese field marshal, and one of the founders of the Imperial Japanese Army.
Biography
Early life
Ōyama was born in Kagoshima to a ''samurai'' family of the Satsuma Domain. as a younger paternal cousin to Saigo Takamori. A proté ...
to be
Chief of General Staff of the
Manchurian Army 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 ...
. That was a demotion for him in terms of rank, but he nevertheless chose to take the position; the sacrifice elicited much public applause. Throughout the Russo-Japanese War, he guided the strategy of the whole campaign, as General
Kawakami Sōroku had done in 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 ...
ten years earlier.
The postwar historian
Shiba Ryōtarō gives him complete credit for Japan's victory at the
Siege of Port Arthur
The siege of Port Arthur ( ja, 旅順攻囲戦, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; russian: link=no, Оборона Порт-Артура, ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russ ...
, but there is no historical evidence for that, and Kodama kept quiet about his role in the battle. After the war, he was named Chief of the
Imperial Japanese Army General Staff
The , also called the Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army.
Role
The was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of Military Affairs ...
but died soon afterwards.
Kodama was raised in rapid succession to the ranks 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 ...
) and ''shishaku'' (
viscount
A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status.
In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...
) under 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 system, and his death in 1906 of a
cerebral hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
was regarded as a national calamity.
Legacy
Following a petition by Kodama's son,
Hideo
Hideo (ひでお) is a masculine Japanese name, Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Hideo Den (田 英夫, 1923–2009), Japanese politician and news presenter
* Hideo Fujimoto (藤本 英雄, 1918–1997), Japanese baseba ...
, the Meiji Emperor elevated Hideo to the title of ''hakushaku'' (
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
). Kodama later received the ultimate honor of being raised to the ranks of
Shinto
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...
''
kami
are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...
''. Shrines to his honor still exist at his hometown in
Shūnan
is a city located in east central Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 143,959 and a population density of 220 persons per km2. The total area is 656.13 km2.
The modern city of Shūna ...
,
Yamaguchi Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). Y ...
, and on the site of his summer home on
Enoshima
is a small offshore island, about in circumference, at the mouth of the Katase River which flows into the Sagami Bay of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Administratively, Enoshima is part of the mainland city of Fujisawa, and is linked to ...
,
Fujisawa,
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...
.
Honours
''With information from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia''
Peerages
*Baron (20 August 1895)
*Viscount (11 April 1906)
Order of precedence
*Senior seventh rank (March 1874)
*Senior sixth rank (28 May 1880)
*Fifth rank (18 April 1883)
*Fourth rank (27 September 1889)
*Senior fourth rank (26 October 1894)
*Third rank (8 March 1898)
*Senior third rank (20 April 1901)
*Second rank (23 April 1906)
*
Senior second rank
The court ranks of Japan, also known in Japanese as ''ikai'' (位階), are indications of an individual's court rank in Japan based on the system of the state. ''Ikai'' as a system was originally used in the Ritsuryo system, which was the polit ...
(23 July 1906; posthumous)
Decorations
Japanese
*Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (27 December 1899; Second Class: 26 December 1894)
*Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (27 February 1902; 2nd Class: 20 August 1895; 3rd Class: 7 April 1885; 4th Class: 31 January 1878)
*Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (1 April 1906)
*Grand Cordon of the Order of the Golden Kite (1 April 1906; 3rd Class: 20 August 1895)
Foreign
* : 1st Class of the
Order of Saint Stanislaus
The Order of Saint Stanislaus ( pl, Order Św. Stanisława Biskupa Męczennika, russian: Орден Святого Станислава), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Ponia ...
(12 September 1892)
* : Commander of the
Legion d'Honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
(14 October 1895)
* :
** Knight 1st Class of the
Order of the Red Eagle
The Order of the Red Eagle (german: Roter Adlerorden) was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful se ...
in Brilliants with swords (13 July 1906)
** : 1st Class of the
Military Merit Order (12 September 1892)
On film
The actor
Tetsurō Tamba
was a Japanese actor with a career spanning five decades. He is best known in the West for his role in the 1967 James Bond film '' You Only Live Twice'' as Tiger Tanaka.
Biography
Tamba had a part-time job as an interpreter at Supreme Commande ...
portrayed Gentarō in the 1980 Japanese
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
''
The Battle of Port Arthur
is a 1980 Japanese war film directed by Toshio Masuda. The Japanese title "Ni hyaku san kochi" means 203 Hill. The film depicts the fiercest battles at 203 Hill in the Siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War 1904 - 1905.
Cast
* Tat ...
'' (sometimes referred as ''203 Kochi'').
''The Battle of Port Arthur'' (''203 Koshi'')
in the Internet Movie Database Directed by Toshio Masuda the film depicted the Siege of Port Arthur
The siege of Port Arthur ( ja, 旅順攻囲戦, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; russian: link=no, Оборона Порт-Артура, ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russ ...
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 ...
and starred Tamba as General Gentarō, Tatsuya Nakadai
is a Japanese film actor.
He was featured in 11 films directed by Masaki Kobayashi, including ''The Human Condition'' trilogy, wherein he starred as the lead character Kaji, plus ''Harakiri'', ''Samurai Rebellion'' and ''Kwaidan''.
Nakadai wor ...
as General Nogi Maresuke
Count , also known as Kiten, Count Nogi (December 25, 1849September 13, 1912), was a Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army and a governor-general of Taiwan. He was one of the commanders during the 1894 capture of Port Arthur from Chin ...
and Toshirō Mifune
was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...
as Emperor Meiji
, also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...
.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*Mutsu, Gorō (1985). "Kodama Gentarō." Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
External links
*
*
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kodama, Gentaro
1852 births
1906 deaths
Military personnel from Yamaguchi Prefecture
Japanese generals
Kazoku
Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War
Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War
People of the Boshin War
People of Meiji-period Japan
Government ministers of Japan
Ministers of Home Affairs of Japan
Ministers of the Imperial Japanese Army
Governors-General of Taiwan
Mōri retainers
Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite
Recipients of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers
Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun
Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure
Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur