Hasegawa Yoshimichi

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Count Hasegawa Yoshimichi
1 October 1850 – 27 January 1924)
Japanese General Count Hasegawa Yoshimichi
Place of birth	Iwakuni, Suo domain, Japan
Place of death	Tokyo, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Years of service	1871–1916
Rank	Field Marshal
Commands	Imperial Japanese Army
Battles/wars	Boshin War First Sino-Japanese War Russo-Japanese War
Awards	Order of the Golden Kite (1st class) Order of the Chrysanthemum.
Other work	Governor General of Korea

Yoshimichi Hasegawa (長谷川好道, Hasegawa Yoshimichi^?) (1 October 1850 – 27 January 1924) was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army and Japanese Governor General of Korea from 1916-1919. His Japanese decorations included Order of the Golden Kite (1st class) and Order of the Chrysanthemum.

Born as the son of a samurai fencing master in the Iwakuni sub-fief of Chōshū (present-day Yamaguchi prefecture), Hasegawa served under the Chōshū forces during the Boshin War from January until March 1868 during the Meiji Restoration which overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate..

Upon the formation of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1871, Hasegawa enlisted as a captain and later, as a major, was given command of a regiment during the Satsuma Rebellion seeing action at the relief of Kumamoto Castle on 14 April 1877.

Traveling to France as military attaché in 1885 to study European military strategy, military tactics and equipment, Hasegawa was promoted to major general upon his return to Japan the following year.

During the First Sino-Japanese War, Hasegawa won distinction for valor on behalf of his 12th Infantry Brigade at the Battle of Pyongyang on 15 September 1894 and in skirmishes around Haicheng from December 1894 until January 1895. After the war, he was ennobled with the title of danshaku (baron).

During the Russo-Japanese War, Hasegawa was assigned to the 1st Army under General Kuroki Tamemoto as commander of the Imperial Guards Division in the spring of 1904, later fighting with distinction at the Battle of the Yalu on 30 April - 1 May 1904, eventually winning promotion to general in June 1904. After the war, he was elevated to the title of shishaku (viscount).

After serving as commander of the Korea Garrison Army from September 1904 until December 1908, Hasegawa was appointed Army Chief-of-Staff in 1912. He forced War Minister Uehara Yusaku to resign over Prime Minister Saionji Kinmochi's tight fiscal policy and attempted revision of the system whereby only active duty officers can serve as Ministers of War and Navy. The collapse of Saionji’s government was known as the "Taisho political crisis".

In 1915, Hasegawa was awarded the title of field marshal, and was elevated to the title of hakushaku (count) in 1916.

From October 1916, he served as the third Japanese Governor-General of Korea, and was later criticized for his military approach to the Samil Independence Movement.

He died in 1924. His grave is at Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

[edit] References

Craig, Albert M. Chōshū in the Meiji Restoration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961.
Dupuy, Trevor N. The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1992. ISBN 0-7858-0437-4
Jansen, Marius B. and Gilbert Rozman, eds. Japan in Transition: From Tokugawa to Meiji. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
Jansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000.