Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

was a Japanese general in the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

and a government minister during the

Meiji period The was 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 colonizatio ...

. He was instrumental in establishing the modern Imperial Japanese military.

Early life

Kodama was born on March 16, 1852, in Tokuyama, Tsuno, Suō Province, the first son of the

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

Kodama Hankurō. His father was a mid-ranking samurai with a 100 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' 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, and a part of the Chinese literature. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernac ...

, 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 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

against the forces of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

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 Shinpūren and Satsuma Rebellions. 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, where he worked with German Major Jakob Meckel to reorganize the modern Japanese military after the Prussian military. Kodama went on to study military science as a

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

to Germany. After his return to Japan, he was appointed Vice-minister of War in 1892. After his service in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Kodama became Governor-General of Taiwan. During his tenure, he did much to improve 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 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Itō Hirobumi. Kodama retained the post and took on the concurrent roles of Minister of Home Affairs and

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

under the following prime minister, Katsura Tarō. On 6 June 1904, Kodama was promoted to full

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

. 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 Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

Ōyama Iwao to be Chief of General Staff of the Manchurian Army during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

. 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 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

ten years earlier. The postwar historian Shiba Ryōtarō gives him complete credit for Japan's victory at the Siege of Port Arthur, 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 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 title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

) 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. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

) under the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. It was formed by merging the feudal lords (''Daimyo, daimyō'') and court nobles (''kuge'') into one system modelled after the British peerage. Distin ...

'' peerage system, and his death in 1906 of a cerebral hemorrhage was regarded as a national calamity.

Legacy

Following a petition by Kodama's son, Hideo, 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 , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

''. Shrines to his honor still exist at his hometown in Shūnan,

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). ...

, 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, Kanagawa, Fujisawa, and is ...

, Fujisawa,

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

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 language, Japanese as ''ikai'' (位階), are indications of an individual's court rank in Japan based on the system of the Nation, state. ''Ikai'' as a system was the indication of the rank of burea ...

(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 (, ), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Congress Poland, Kingdom of Pola ...

(12 September 1892) * : Commander of the Legion d'Honneur (14 October 1895) * : ** Knight 1st Class of the Order of the Red Eagle in Brilliants with swords (13 July 1906) ** : 1st Class of the Military Merit Order (12 September 1892)

On film

The actor Tetsurō Tamba portrayed Gentarō in the 1980 Japanese war

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

The Battle of Port Arthur is a 1980 Japanese war film directed by Toshio Masuda. The Japanese title "Ni hyaku san kochi" means Hill 203. The film depicts the fiercest battles at Hill 203 in the Siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War 1904 - 1905. Cast * T ...

'' (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 during the

and starred Tamba as General Gentarō, Tatsuya Nakadai as General Nogi Maresuke and Toshirō Mifune as

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

Notes

References

* * * * * *Mutsu, Gorō (1985). "Kodama Gentarō." Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.

External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kodama, Gentaro samurai 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 the Meiji era 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 Commanders of the Legion of Honour