, (May 27, 1868 – March 27, 1904) was a career officer in the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

. He commanded the cargo vessel ''Fukui Maru'' during the

Battle of Port Arthur The of 8–9 February 1904 marked the commencement of the Russo-Japanese War. It began with a surprise night attack by a squadron of Japanese destroyers on the neutral Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur, Manchuria, and continued with an en ...

in 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 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 is a city located in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on March 31, 1954. On April 1, 2005, the towns of Kujū, Naoiri and Ogi (all from Naoiri District) were also merged into Taketa. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimate ...

, 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 The was a school established to train line officers for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was originally located in Nagasaki, moved to Yokohama in 1866, and was relocated to Tsukiji, Tokyo in 1869. It moved to Etajima, Hiroshima in 1888. Students stu ...

Etajima , also called , ''Nomijima'', ''Nomi Island'', or is an island in Hiroshima Bay located in southwestern Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The mess with island name originates from the ancient (and possibly legendary) strait at now town . Geography Th ...

, graduating from the 15th class in 1889. He served aboard the

ironclad warship An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. T ...

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 ...

and saw action at the Battle of Yalu River on September 17, 1894. From 1897 to 1899 Hirose was sent to study in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

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 ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

until 1902. During his time as attaché he went on a tour of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. He was promoted to

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

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

he volunteered to command the ''Fukui Maru'', an old cargo vessel which was used as a

blockship A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland Harbour in 1914; ...

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 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'', by author

Ryōtarō Shiba , also known as , was a Japanese author. He is best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the r ...

. The novel became the basis for the

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

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 ...

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