was a Japanese military officer and politician who served as a

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 ...

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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and

War Minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

from 1938 to 1939. Itagaki was a main conspirator behind the

Mukden Incident The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, L ...

and held prestigious

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

posts in the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

and

China Expeditionary Army The was a general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1939 to 1945. The China Expeditionary Army was established in September 1939 from the merger of the Central China Expeditionary Army and Japanese Northern China Area Army, and was headqu ...

during the early

Second Sino–Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific The ...

. Itagaki became War Minister but fell from grace after Japanese defeat in the

Soviet–Japanese border conflicts The Soviet–Japanese border conflicts, also known as the Soviet-Japanese Border War or the First Soviet-Japanese War,was a series of minor and major conflicts fought between the Soviet Union (led by Joseph Stalin), Mongolia (led by Khorloog ...

, serving as general for several

field armies A field army (or numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. Likewise, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces, and withi ...

until surrendering Japanese forces in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

in 1945. Itagaki was convicted of war crimes by the

International Military Tribunal for the Far East The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial or the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946 to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for crimes against peace, conven ...

and executed in 1948.

Early life

Seishirō Itagaki was born on 21 January 1885 in

Morioka is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . ...

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...

, into a former ''

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 ...

'' family that had served the

Nanbu clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...

of the

Morioka Domain 300px, Ruins of Morioka Castle was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan. It was ruled throughout its history by the Nanbu clan. It was called during the early part of its history. It was located in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū, ...

. Itagaki's father, Masanori Itagaki, served as mayor for Kesen District and as a

headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...

for a girls school. Itagaki was raised in a

Nichiren Buddhist Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of ...

family belonging to the

Nichiren-shū is a combination of several schools ranging from four of the original Nichiren Buddhist schools that date back to Nichiren's original disciples, and part of the fifth: Overview The school is often referred to as the ''Minobu Sect'' due to ...

sect. Itagaki attended the

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

in Morioka (at the same time

Kyōsuke Kindaichi was a Japanese linguist, chiefly known for his dictations of yukar, or sagas of the Ainu people, as well as his study of the Matagi dialect. He is the author of the dictionary '' Meikai Kokugo Jiten''. Biography Kindaichi was born in Morioka, ...

Koshirō Oikawa was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and Naval Minister during World War II. Biography Oikawa was born into a wealthy family in rural Koshi County, Niigata Prefecture, but was raised in Morioka city, Iwate prefecture in northern Jap ...

, and

Kodō Nomura was the pen-name of Nomura Osakazu (野村長一), a novelist and music critic in Shōwa period Japan. He also used the pen-name Araebisu for his music criticism. He is famous for his creation of the fictional detective Zenigata Heiji. Early lif ...

) before attending the regional

military school A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

Military career

Itagaki entered 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 ...

, where he befriended numerous notable Japanese military figures including

Yasuji Okamura was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army, and commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army from November 1944 to the end of World War II. He was tried but found not guilty of any war crimes by the Shanghai War Crimes Tribunal after the ...

Kenji Doihara was a Japanese army officer. As a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, he was instrumental in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. As a leading intelligence officer, he played a key role to the Japanese machinations that ...

, and

Tetsuzan Nagata was a Japanese military officer and general of the Imperial Japanese Army best known as the victim of the Aizawa Incident in August 1935. Nagata was an influential military figure in the Meiji government and the '' de facto'' leader of the ...

. Itagaki graduated from the Army Academy in 1904 and fought 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 ...

. Itagaki married Kikuko Ogoshi, the daughter of his former mentor Kenkichi Ogoshi who died in the Battle of Mukden. From 1924 to 1926, Itagaki was 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 ...

assigned to the Japanese embassy in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. On his return to Japan, he held a number of staff 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 ...

until 1927 before being given a field command as commanding officer of the IJA 33rd Infantry Brigade based in China. His brigade was attached to the

IJA 10th Division The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its tsūshōgō code name was the . The ''10th Divisio''n was one of six new infantry divisions raised by the Imperial Japanese Army in the aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War, 1 ...

from 1927 to 1928. Itagaki was then transferred to command the IJA 33rd Infantry Regiment in China from 1928 to 1929, under the aegis of the prestigious

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

. In 1931, Itagaki rose to become Chief of the Intelligence Section of the Kwantung Army, in which capacity he helped plan the 1931

that led to the Japanese seizure of

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

. Itagaki was subsequently a military advisor to the Japanese

puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its o ...

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

from 1932 to 1934. In 1934, Itagaki became Vice Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, and in 1936 was promoted to

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

. From 1937 to 1938, Itagaki was commander of 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 ...

in China during the early stages of the

, and his division took a leading part in the

Battle of Beiping–Tianjin The Battle of Beiping–Tianjin (), also known as the Battle of Beiping, Battle of Peiping, Battle of Beijing, Battle of Peiking, the Peiking-Tientsin Operation, and by the Japanese as the (25–31 July 1937) was a series of battles of the Sec ...

Operation Chahar Operation Chahar ( ja, チャハル作戦, Chaharu Sakusen), known in Chinese as the Nankou Campaign (), occurred in August 1937, following the Battle of Beiping-Tianjin at the beginning of Second Sino-Japanese War. This was the second attack b ...

, and the

Battle of Taiyuan The Japanese offensive called 太原作戦 or the Battle of Taiyuan was a major battle fought in 1937 between China and Japan named for Taiyuan (the capital of Shanxi province), which lay in the 2nd Military Region. The battle concluded in a v ...

. However, in the

Battle of Xuzhou The Battle of Xuzhou was a military conflict between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China forces in May 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. History In 1937 the North China Area Army had chased Song ...

his forces were repulsed during the Battle of Taierzhuang in the vicinity of

Linyi Linyi () is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province, China. As of 2011, Linyi is the largest prefecture-level city in Shandong, both by area and population, Linyi borders Rizhao to the east, Weifang to the northeast, Zibo t ...

that prevented them from coming to the aid of

Rensuke Isogai was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and Governor of Hong Kong under Japanese occupation from February 20, 1942 to December 24, 1944. Biography Early career A native of Hyōgo Prefecture, Isogai graduated from the 16th class of the Imp ...

General F W Messervy receives the sword of General Itagaki

Itagaki was recalled to Japan in 1938, briefly serving as

from 1938 to 1939. On 6 December 1938, Itagaki proposed a national policy in accordance with ''

Hakko Ichiu Hako may refer to: People * Irie Hakō (1887–1948), Japanese painter * Hako Isawa, a character in Japanese anime/manga ''Air Gear''; see '' List of Air Gear characters#Hako Isawa'' * Hako Natsuno, a main character in Japanese manga '' Meteor ...

'' (Expansion) at the Five Ministers Conference, which was the Japanese highest decision making council, and the council made a decision of prohibiting the expulsion of the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in Japan,

, and China as Japanese national policy. Itagaki returned to China again as chief of staff of the

from 1939 to 1941. However, in the summer of 1939, the unexpected defeat of Japanese forces against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

at the

Battle of Khalkhin Gol The Battles of Khalkhin Gol (russian: Бои на Халхин-Голе; mn, Халхын голын байлдаан) were the decisive engagements of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border conflicts involving the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Ja ...

or ''Nomonhan incident'', the decisive battle of the

, was a major blow to his career. On 7 July 1941, Itagaki was reassigned to command the

Chosen Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army that formed a garrison force in Korea under Japanese rule. The Korean Army consisted of roughly 350,000 troops in 1914. History Japanese forces occupied large portions of the Empire of Korea dur ...

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 ...

, then considered to be a non-prestigious backwater post. He was able to prevent

Masanobu Tsuji was a Japanese army officer and politician. During World War II, he was an important tactical planner in the Imperial Japanese Army and developed the detailed plans for the successful Japanese invasion of Malaya at the start of the war. He als ...

from being cashiered as the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

had wished due to Tsuji's insolence and extreme '' gekokujō'' during the Nomonhan incident by instead having Tsuji transferred to a research unit at

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...

. While Itagaki was commander of the Chosen Army, Japan began assembling its nuclear weapons program with the industrial site near the Chosen reservoir as its equivalent to the Oak Ridge laboratory for the United States'

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

. As the war situation continued to deteriorate for Japan, the Chosen Army was elevated to the

Japanese Seventeenth Area Army The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the final stages of World War II. History The Japanese 17th Area Army was formed on January 22, 1945 under the Imperial General Headquarters as the successor to the Chosen Army of Japan ...

in 1945, with Itagaki still as commander in chief until 7 April 1945. Itagaki was then reassigned to the

Japanese Seventh Area Army The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army formed during final stages of the Pacific War and based in Japanese-occupied Malaya, Singapore and Borneo, Java, and Sumatra. History The Japanese 7th Area Army was formed on March 19, 1944 ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and Malaya in April 1945. Itagaki surrendered Japanese forces in

to British Admiral

Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...

in Singapore on 12 September 1945.

Death

After the war, Itagaki was taken into custody by the

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) to the Japanese government, aiming to suppress its "milita ...

authorities and charged with war crimes, specifically in connection with the Japanese seizure of Manchuria, his escalation of the war against the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

during his term as War Minister, and for allowing inhumane treatment of

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

during his term as commander of Japanese forces in Southeast Asia. Itagaki was found guilty on counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 35, 36 and 54 and was condemned to death in 1948 by the

. Itagaki was hanged on 23 December 1948 at

Sugamo Prison Sugamo Prison (''Sugamo Kōchi-sho'', Kyūjitai: , Shinjitai: ) was a prison in Tokyo, Japan. It was located in the district of Ikebukuro, which is now part of the Toshima ward of Tokyo, Japan. History Sugamo Prison was originally built in 1 ...

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 ...

.Maga, ''Judgement at Tokyo''

References

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Itagaki, Seishiro Japanese generals Ministers of the Imperial Japanese Army 1885 births 1948 deaths Japanese military personnel of World War II Executed military leaders Japanese people convicted of war crimes Japanese people convicted of the international crime of aggression Japanese people convicted of crimes against humanity People executed by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East Members of the Kwantung Army People from Morioka, Iwate Jewish Japanese history Jewish Chinese history International response to the Holocaust Japanese anti-communists People executed for war crimes People executed for crimes against humanity Military personnel from Iwate Prefecture