Viscount was a

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

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 ...

. His wife was a daughter of General

Nozu Michitsura Marshal (Japan), Field Marshal The Marquis was a Japanese people, Japanese Field Marshal (Japan), field marshal and leading figure in the early Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Nozu was born in Kagoshima as the second son of a low-ranking '' ...

. He was the founder of the Imperial Japanese Army Engineering Corps.

Biography

Early career

Uehara was born as Tatsuoka Shinaga in

Miyakonojō is a city in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on April 1, 1924. As of June 1, 2019, the city has an estimated population of 161,137, with 70,549 households and a population density of 247 per km2. The total area is 653.36 km2 ...

Hyūga Province was an old province of Japan on the east coast of Kyūshū, corresponding to the modern Miyazaki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Hyūga''" in . It was sometimes called or . Hyūga bordered on Bungo, Higo, Ōsumi, and Sats ...

(present-day

Miyazaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 7,735 km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefecture borders Ōita Prefecture to the north, Kuma ...

), as the second son of 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 ...

'' in the service of

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, ...

. In 1875, he was adopted by the Uehara family, a cadet branch of the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contrast ...

, and changed his name to Uehara Yūsaku. He graduated from the

Imperial Japanese Army Academy The was the principal officer's training school for the Imperial Japanese Army. The programme consisted of a junior course for graduates of local army cadet schools and for those who had completed four years of middle school, and a senior course f ...

in 1879 with

Akiyama Yoshifuru was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and is considered the father of modern Japanese cavalry. He was older brother to Vice Admiral Akiyama Saneyuki Biography Early life Born as the third son to a poor samurai in the Matsuyama Domain ...

as one of his classmates, and his speciality was

military engineering Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics be ...

. In June 1881, he was sent to

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 ...

for studies on modern military techniques, including fortification and artillery. He was promoted to lieutenant in September 1882 and to captain in June 1885, while still in France. After his return to Japan in December 1885, he served in administrative positions within 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 ...

. In 1889 he was sent 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 Europe. He was promoted to major in May 1890 and was assigned to the

IJA 5th Division The was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the . The 5th Division was formed in Hiroshima in January 1871 as the , one of six regional commands created in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army. Its personnel we ...

, commanded by his father-in-law, General

. Uehara came to the attention of

Kawakami Soroku Viscount , was a general and one of the chief military strategists in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Donghak Peasant Revolution and First Sino-Japanese War. Biography Born in Satsuma Domain to a ''samurai''-class family, Kawakami fought ...

and was recruited to become one of his "

brain trust Brain trust was a term that originally described a group of close advisers to a political candidate or incumbent; these were often academics who were prized for their expertise in particular fields. The term is most associated with the group of ad ...

". In August 1892, Uehara was appointed aide-de-camp to

Prince Arisugawa Taruhito was a Japanese career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army, who became the 9th head of the line of ''shinnōke'' cadet branches of the Imperial Family of Japan on September 9, 1871. Early life Prince Arisugawa Taruhito was born in Kyoto in 18 ...

and also served as an instructor at the Army Staff College. From July to November 1893, he was sent as a military attache to Annam and to

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

and from June 1894 was sent to

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 ...

during the

Donghak Rebellion The Donghak Peasant Revolution (), also known as the Donghak Peasant Movement (), Donghak Rebellion, Peasant Revolt of 1894, Gabo Peasant Revolution, and a variety of other names, was an armed rebellion in Korea led by peasants and followers o ...

. With the start of 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 ...

, Uehara transferred directly to the

Ōshima Yoshimasa Viscount was a general in the early Imperial Japanese Army during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. His great-great-grandson, Shinzō Abe was Prime Minister of Japan. Biography Ōshima was born as the eldest son to a samur ...

, which defeated the Chinese at the

Battle of Seonghwan The Battle of Seonghwan () was the first major land battle of the First Sino-Japanese War. It took place on 29 July 1894 at the hamlet of Seonghwan, outside of Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do Korea between the forces of Meiji Japan and Qing China. ...

outside of

Asan Asan () is a city in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It borders the Seoul Capital Area to the north. Asan has a population of approximately 300,000. Asan is known for its many hot springs and is a city of spas. Asan has grown into th ...

, south of

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

in the first land engagement of war. Uehara was on the staff of the IJA 1st Army (commanded by General Nozu Michitsura) and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in September 1894 while in Korea. He rose to the position of chief-of-staff of the IJA 1st Army in March 1895. In May, he was reassigned to the 2nd Bureau of the General Staff and in March 1896 was assigned to accompany

Prince Fushimi Sadanaru was the 22nd head of the Fushimi-no-miya shinnōke (branch of the Imperial Family). He was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army. Early life Prince Sadanaru was born in Kyoto as the fourteenth son of Prince Fushimi Kuniie (1802–187 ...

as part of Japan's official delegation to the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

. The delegation remained until August, during which time he was officially reassigned to the 4th Burea of the General Staff. After his return to Japan, he was promoted to colonel in October 1897. In 1899 he was the Japanese delegate to the Hague Convention.

As general

Uehara was promoted to major general in July 1900, and commandant of the Army Artillery School. From August 1903 to February 1904, he was sent as a military attache to Europe. With the start of 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 ...

, Uehara became chief-of-staff of 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 ...

(commanded by General Nozu Michitsura). By many accounts, General Nozu had a difficult personality, and his son-in-law was one of the few people who could get along with him. However, Uehara had many disagreements with General

Kageaki Kawamura Viscount was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Kawamura was born in Kagoshima in the Satsuma han feudal domain (present day Kagoshima prefecture. He first fought as a samurai in the Anglo-Satsuma War. He was part of t ...

and remained on bad terms with Kawamura throughout his career. He was promoted to lieutenant general in July 1906 and ennobled as a

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 ...

(''danshaku'') in 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 in September of the following year. In December 1908 he became the commander of the IJA 7th Division. His appointment was controversial, as it was the first time an engineering officer had been appointed a divisional commander. The appointment had the support of General

Terauchi Masatake Gensui Count Terauchi Masatake ( ja, 寺内正毅), GCB (5 February 1852 – 3 November 1919), was a Japanese military officer, proconsul and politician. He was a '' Gensui'' (or Marshal) in the Imperial Japanese Army and the Prime Minister o ...

, and Uehara specifically requested an assignment far from Tokyo, so that the Choshu-dominated Army Ministry would be unable to interfere. The IJA 7th Division was a garrison force in

Asahikawa, Hokkaido is a city in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of the subprefecture, and the second-largest city in Hokkaido, after Sapporo. It has been a core city since April 1, 2000. The city is currently well known for the Asahiyama ...

. From September 1911 he commanded the

IJA 11th Division The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its tsūshōgō code name was the , and its military symbol was 11D. The 11th Division was one of six infantry divisions newly raised by the Imperial Japanese Army after the First Sino ...

. In December 1912, Uehara was appointed Army Minister in

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 ...

Saionji Kinmochi Prince was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1906 to 1908 and from 1911 to 1912. He was elevated from marquis to prince in 1920. As the last surviving member of Japan's ''genrō,'' he was the most in ...

's second cabinet. Since the civilian government was pursuing a tight fiscal policy, it soon came into conflict with the army, which was demanding an increase in funding for another two

infantry division A division is a large military unit or Formation (military), formation, usually consisting of between 6,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically mak ...

s. When Uehara resigned as Army Minister over this conflict, the remainder cabinet resigned en masse when the Army refused to nominate a successor, precipitating the collapse of Saionji's government. This event was known as the "Taisho Political Crisis". From March to May 1913, Uehara was commander of 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 ...

. In April 1914, he became Inspector General of Military Training, the third most prestigious post in the Army. In February 1915, Uehara was promoted to general and became a member of the

Supreme War Council The Supreme War Council was a central command based in Versailles that coordinated the military strategy of the principal Allies of World War I: Britain, France, Italy, the US and Japan. It was founded in 1917 after the Russian revolution and w ...

; he also became Chief of the

, remaining in this post longer than any person before or after (with the exception of a member of the

Imperial House A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

). While in this position, he authorized the

Siberian Intervention The Siberian intervention or Siberian expedition of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers, Japan, and China to support White Russian fo ...

in support of White Russian forces against the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

in the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

. Uehara received the rank of

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 ...

in April 1921, and his ''kazoku'' title was raised to ''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 ...

). He retired shortly afterwards, and served as the president of the

Kaikosha is a Japanese organization of retired military servicemen whose membership is open to former commissioned officers of the JASDF and JGSDF as well as commissioned officers, warrant officers, officer cadets, and high-ranking civil servants who serv ...

association for retired veterans. Uehara died in 1933 of

peptic ulcer disease Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a break in the inner lining of the stomach, the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while one in the first part of the intestines i ...

and

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

at his home in Tokyo at the age of 77. His grave is at the

Aoyama Cemetery is a cemetery in Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The cemetery is also famous for its cherry blossoms, and at the season of hanami, which many people would visit. History The cemetery was origin ...

in Tokyo.

Decorations

* 1893 –

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 ...

, 6th class * 1895 – JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 5Class BAR

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 ...

, 5th class * 1895 – JPN Kinshi-kunsho 4Class BAR

Order of the Golden Kite The was an order of the Empire of Japan, established on 12 February 1890 by Emperor Meiji "in commemoration of Jimmu Tennō, the Romulus of Japan". It was officially abolished 1947 by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) during th ...

, 4th class * 1896 – JPN Zuiho-sho (WW2) 5Class BAR