Takashima Tomonosuke Explained

Takashima Tomonosuke
Native Name:高島 鞆之助
Native Name Lang:jpn
Birth Date:18 December 1844
Birth Place:Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain, Japan
Death Place:Kyoto, Japan
Office:2nd & 4th Minister of War of the
Japanese Empire
Term Start:May 17th, 1891
Term End:8 August 1892
Predecessor:Ōyama Iwao
Successor:Matsukata Masayoshi-->
Successor:Ōyama Iwao
Term Start2:20 September 1896
Term End2:12 January 1898
Predecessor2:Ōyama Iwao
Successor2:Katsura Tarō
Serviceyears:1874–1916
Rank: Lieutenant General
Commands:IJA 4th Division
Battles:Boshin War
Satsuma Rebellion
Awards:Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon

Viscount was a samurai of Satsuma Domain, general in the early Imperial Japanese Army, and a cabinet minister in Meiji period Japan. Part of Sophia University in Tokyo is located on the site of his house.

Biography

Military career

Born into a samurai family of Satsuma Domain (present day Kagoshima Prefecture, Takashima studied at the Han school Zōshikan. He fought in the Boshin War to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate, and was a member of the personal guard of Emperor Meiji in 1869, and was named a chamberlain in 1871. With the creation of the Imperial Japanese Army 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 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 Garrison in late 1880, and the Osaka Garrison in 1881. In 1882, he was commander of Japanese forces during the Imo incident in Korea. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1883. In 1884, Takashima was ennobled with the title of viscount (shishaku) under the kazoku peerage system.[1]

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 in 1888.[2]

Political career

In 1891, Takashima was named Army Minister in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Matsukata Masayoshi. He was appointed to the Privy Council the following year. A strong supporter of the 1895 Japanese invasion of Taiwan, Takashima subsequently served as the first Vice Governor-General of Taiwan after the First Sino-Japanese War. In 1896, at the request of Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi 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 Matsukata Masayoshi, 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 in 1916. His grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

Decorations

Foreign

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. 『官報』第307号「叙任及辞令」July 8, 1884。
  2. Wendel, Axis History Factbook
  3. 『官報』第1306号「叙任及辞令」November 4, 1887