Kuniaki Koiso

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Kuniaki Koiso
Prime Minister of Japan
41st Prime Minister of Japan
In office 22 July 1944 – 7 April 1945
Preceded by	Hideki Tojo
Succeeded by	Kantaro Suzuki
Born	22 March 1880 Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Died	3 November 1950 Tokyo, Japan
Political party	none
Occupation	general, Imperial Japanese Army Governor-General of Korea

Kuniaki Koiso (小磯 國昭, Koiso Kuniaki^?), (22 March 1880–3 November 1950) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Governor-General of Korea and 41st Prime Minister of Japan from 22 July 1944 to 7 April 1945.

Koiso was born in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture as the son of an ex-samurai family. His father was a policeman.

Contents 1 Military career 2 Political Career 3 Later career 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Military career

A career soldier, Koiso graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1900 and went on to attend the Army War College. Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in 30th Infantry Regiment in June 1901, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in November 1903. During the Russo-Japanese War, he served as Battalion Adjutant in September 1904, Company Commander in March 1905 and was promoted to captain in June 1905, all in the same Regiment.

In November 1910, he graduated from the Army War College and returned to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy as an instructor in December 1910.

Reassigned to the Kwantung Army in September 1912, he was promoted to Major and Battalion Commander of the 2d Infantry Regiment in August 1914. He returned to the Army General Staff, Headquarters in June 1915, was promoted to lieutenant colonel in July 1918, and seconded to the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in July 1921. After his promoted to colonel in February 1922, he was sent on official duty, to Europe in June 1922, returning to assume command of the 51st Infantry in August 1923. Returning to the Army General Staff in May 1925, he was promoted to major general in December 1926 and Lieutenant General in August 1931.

During 1920s period he joined the relatively moderate Toseiha (Control Faction) led by General Kazushige Ugaki, along with Gen Sugiyama, Yoshijiro Umezu, Tetsuzan Nagata, and Hideki Tojo as opposed to the more radical Kodaha (Action Faction) under Sadao Araki.

In February 1932, Koiso became Vice-Minister of War and in August 1932, concurrently Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army. In March 1934, he was transfer to command the 5th Division (Hiroshima). He then assumed command of the Chosen Army in December 1935. Promoted to full general in November 1937, he joined the Army General Staff in July 1938.

[edit] Political Career

Koiso left active duty in July 1938. From April-August 1939, he served as Minister of the newly created cabinet post of the Ministry of Greater East Asia (Japan), and again from January-July 1940.

He was Governor-General of Korea from May 1942 to 1944, during which time he gained the nickname "The Tiger of Korea" for his looks rather than his military prowess.^[1]

In July 1944, Koiso was chosen to serve as Prime Minister of Japan after the downfall of the Tojo cabinet. Koiso faced strong competition from more senior army officials for the post. The Army strongly favored General Terauchi Hisaichi; however, they could not afford to recall him to Japan from his role as commander-in-chief of all Japanese forces in Southeast Asia. The civilian government, especially Kido Koichi and Konoe Fumimaro also did not favor Koiso, due to Koiso's previous involvement with the Sakura Kai and its attempted coup d'état against the government in 1931 (The March Incident). These reservations were shared by the Emperor in his Privy Council meetings. Nevertheless, Koiso was selected, as no consensus could be reached on a more suitable alternative.

Koiso was almost a token Prime Minister as he was not party to any military decisions. He was not popular with either government ministers who favored making peace, or those who wished to prosecute the war until the bitter end.

During Koiso's term in office, Japanese forces faced multiple defeats on all fronts at the hands of the United States Army and United States Navy. Also during his tenure, on 10 November 1944 Wang Jingwei died of pneumonia in a Japanese hospital in Nagoya, which effectively was the end of the Nanjing regime in northern China. For a time, Koiso considered making peace, but he could not find a solution that would appease both the Japanese military and the Americans. Left with little choice but to continue the war effort, Koiso tried to extend his power over the army by attempting to assume the position of War Minister concurrently with Prime Minister, but was unable to legally do so as he was on the reserve list. Koiso resigned in April 1945 when American forces invaded Okinawa and his demand to be included in military decisions was rejected.

[edit] Later career

Koiso was an ardent supporter of State Shintoism along with Heisuke Yanagawa, who directed the Government Imperial Aid Association. He restored the ancient sacred rites in the Sukumo river, near Hakone, the "Preliminary Misogi Rite".

After the end of World War II, Koiso was arrested by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers and tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for war crimes. Upon conviction as a Class-A war criminal on counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32 and 55, he was given a sentence of life imprisonment. The Tribunal specifically cited Koiso’s “brutality” during his period of rule over Korea, and the fact that, as Prime Minister, he was aware of the mistreatment of prisoners of war by the Japanese military. Koiso died in Sugamo Prison in 1950.

[edit] External links

• National Diet Library photos and biography

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Itō · Kuroda · Yamagata · Matsukata · Itō (2nd) · Matsukata (2nd) · Itō (3rd) · Okuma · Yamagata (2nd) · Itō (4th) · Katsura · Saionji · Katsura (2nd) · Saionji (2nd) · Katsura (3rd) · Yamamoto · Okuma (2nd) · Terauchi · Hara · Takahashi · To. Kato · Yamamoto (2nd) · Kiyoura · Ta. Kato · Wakatsuki · G. Tanaka · Hamaguchi · Wakatsuki (2nd) · Inukai · Saitō · Okada · Hirota · Hayashi · Konoe · Hiranuma · N. Abe · Yonai · Konoe (2nd) · Tojo · Koiso · K. Suzuki · Prince Higashikuni · Shidehara · Yoshida · Katayama · Ashida · Yoshida (2nd) · Hatoyama · Ishibashi · Kishi · Ikeda · Sato · K. Tanaka · Miki · Fukuda · Ohira · Z. Suzuki · Nakasone · Takeshita · Uno · Kaifu · Miyazawa · Hosokawa · Hata · Murayama · Hashimoto · Obuchi · Mori · Koizumi · S. Abe

Preceded by Jiro Minami of Korea

Japanese Governor-General in Korea 1942-1944

Succeeded by Nobuyuki Abe

[edit] References

1. ^ Toland, John: "The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945", page 529

• Republic of Korea
• [1] – National Diet Library Photo and Bio