Viscount was 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 ...

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...

, 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 ...

, and a cabinet minister in

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 ...

Japan. Part of

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private research university in Japan. Sophia is one of the three ''Sōkeijōchi'' (早慶上智) private universities, a group of the to ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

is located on the site of his house.

Biography

Military career

Born into a ''

'' family of

(present day

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

, Takashima studied at the

Han school The was an educational institution in the Edo period of Japan, originally established to educate children of '' daimyō'' (feudal lords) and their retainers in the domains outside of the capital. These institutions were also known as ''hanga ...

''Zōshikan''. He fought in the Boshin War to overthrow 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 ...

, and was a member of the personal guard of Emperor Meiji in 1869, and was named a

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

in 1871. With the creation of the

in 1874, he was commissioned as a colonel and made commandant of the ''Kyododan'' (School for Non-commissioned Officers) in 1875. In 1877, he was promoted to major general at the time 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 b ...

and commanded the IJA 1st Detached Infantry Brigade against his former Satsuma clansmen. From 1879 to 1880, he was sent to Germany and France for further training. On his return, he was assigned command of the

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

Garrison in late 1880, and the Osaka Garrison in 1881. In 1882, he was commander of Japanese forces during the

Imo incident The Imo Incident, also sometimes known as the Imo Mutiny, Soldier's riot or Jingo-gunran in Japanese, was a violent uprising and riot in Seoul beginning on July 23, 1882, by soldiers of the Joseon Army who were later joined by disaffected member ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. He 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 ...

in 1883. In 1884, Takashima was ennobled with the title of

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 judicia ...

(''shishaku'') 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. Takashima resumed command of the Osaka Garrison from 1885, and was appointed the first commander of the Osaka-based IJA 4th Division after the reorganization of the Imperial Japanese Army into Divisions, based on reforms initiated by the Prussian general

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 ...

in 1888.

Political career

In 1891, Takashima was named Army Minister in the first

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

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 ...

Matsukata Masayoshi Prince was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1891 to 1892 and 1896 to 1898. Early life Matsukata Masayoshi was born on 25 February 1835, in Arata, Kagoshima, Satsuma Province (present-day Shimoarata, Kagoshima, Kagosh ...

. He was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

the following year. A strong supporter of the 1895 Japanese invasion of Taiwan, Takashima subsequently served as the first Vice

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 ...

after 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 ...

. In 1896, at the request of Prime Minister

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 samu ...

he established the Colonial Administration Department encourage Japanese investment and settlement in Taiwan. From September 1896, Takashima resumed the post of Army Minister under the 2nd cabinet of Prime Minister

, holding that post until September 1898, when he retired from military service. He was appointed again to the Privy Council from 1899 to his death due to an

Intracranial hemorrhage Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), also known as intracranial bleed, is hemorrhage, bleeding internal bleeding, within the Human skull, skull. Subtypes are intracerebral bleeds (intraventricular bleeds and intraparenchymal bleeds), subarachnoid bleed ...

in 1916. His grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

Decorations

* 1887 –

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun『官報』第1306号「叙任及辞令」November 4, 1887 * 1916 – JPN Kyokujitsu-sho Paulownia BAR

Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers

Foreign

* 1916 –

France,

Legion of Honour 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, ...

, Commandeur

References

* * * *

External links

* *

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Takashima, Tomonosuke 1844 births 1916 deaths Samurai Kazoku People of Meiji-period Japan Shimazu retainers Military personnel from Kagoshima Prefecture People of the Boshin War Japanese generals Members of the Government-General of Taiwan Ministers of the Imperial Japanese Army Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur People from Kagoshima