Ministry of the Army (Japan)

HQ building of the Imperial Japanese Army, Tokyo, from 1937–1945

The Army Ministry (陸軍省, Rikugun-shō), also known as the Ministry of War, was the cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). It existed from 1872 to 1945.

History

The Army Ministry was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of the Military (兵部省, Hyōbushō) of the early Meiji government.

Initially, the Army Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of the Imperial Japanese Army. However, with the creation of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in December 1878, it was left with only administrative functions. Its primary role was to secure the army budget, weapons procurement, personnel, relations with the National Diet and the Cabinet and broad matters of military policy.

The post of Army Minister was politically powerful. Although a member of the Cabinet after the establishment of the cabinet system of government in 1885, the Army Minister was answerable directly to the Emperor (the commander-in-chief of all Japanese armed forces under the Meiji Constitution) and not the Prime Minister.

From the time of its creation, the post of Army Minister was usually filled by an active-duty general in the Imperial Japanese Army. This practice was made into law under the "Military Ministers to be Active-Duty Officers Law" (軍部大臣現役武官制, Gumbu daijin gen'eki bukan sei) in 1900 by Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo to curb the influence of political parties into military affairs. Abolished in 1913 under the administration of Yamamoto Gonnohyōe, the law was revived again in 1936 at the insistence of the Army General Staff by Prime Minister Hirota Kōki. At the same time, the Imperial Japanese Army prohibited its generals from accepting political offices except by permission from Imperial General Headquarters. Taken together, these arrangements gave the Imperial Japanese Army an effective, legal right to nominate (or refuse to nominate) the Army Minister. The ability of the Imperial Japanese Army to refuse to nominate an Army Minister gave it effective veto power over the formation (or continuation) of any civilian administration, and was a key factor in the erosion of representative democracy and the rise of Japanese militarism.

After 1937, both the Army Minister and the Chief of the Army General Staff were members of the Imperial General Headquarters.

With the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II, the Army Ministry was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Army by the American occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived in the post-war Constitution of Japan.

Organization

The Army Ministry and Imperial General Headquarters were located in Ichigaya Heights, which is now part of Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Ministers of the Army of Japan

No. Name Portrait Cabinet Term of Office
Start End
1 Ōyama Iwao 1st Itō 22 December 1885 30 April 1888
2 Ōyama Iwao Kuroda 30 April 1888 24 December 1889
3 Ōyama Iwao 1st Yamagata 24 December 1889 6 May 1891
4 Ōyama Iwao 1st Matsukata 6 May 1891 17 May 1891
5 Takashima Tomonosuke 1st Matsukata 17 May 1891 8 August 1892
6 Ōyama Iwao 2nd Itō 8 August 1892 18 September 1896
7 Ōyama Iwao 2nd Matsukata 18 September 1896 20 September 1896
8 Takashima Tomonosuke 2nd Matsukata 20 September 1896 12 January 1898
9 Katsura Tarō 3rd Itō 12 January 1898 30 June 1898
10 Katsura Tarō 1st Ōkuma 30 June 1898 8 November 1898
11 Katsura Tarō 2nd Yamagata 8 November 1898 19 October 1900
12 Katsura Tarō 4th Itō 19 October 1900 23 December 1900
13 Kodama Gentarō 4th Itō 23 December 1900 2 June 1901
14 Kodama Gentarō 1st Katsura 2 June 1901 27 March 1902
15 Terauchi Masatake 1st Katsura 27 March 1902 7 January 1906
16 Terauchi Masatake 1st Saionji 7 January 1906 14 July 1908
17 Terauchi Masatake 2nd Katsura 14 July 1908 30 August 1911
18 Ishimoto Shinroku 2nd Saionji 30 August 1911 2 April 1912
19 Uehara Yūsaku 2nd Saionji 5 April 1912 21 December 1912
20 Kigoshi Yasutsuna 3rd Katsura 21 December 1912 20 February 1913
21 Kigoshi Yasutsuna 1st Yamamoto 20 February 1913 24 June 1913
22 Kusunose Yukihiko 1st Yamamoto 24 June 1913 16 April 1914
23 Oka Ichinosuke 2nd Ōkuma 16 April 1914 30 March 1916
24 Ōshima Ken'ichi 2nd Ōkuma 30 March 1916 9 October 1916
25 Ōshima Ken'ichi Terauchi 9 October 1916 29 September 1918
26 Tanaka Giichi Hara 29 September 1918 9 June 1921
27 Yamanashi Hanzō Hara 9 June 1921 13 November 1921
28 Yamanashi Hanzō Takahashi 13 November 1921 12 June 1922
29 Yamanashi Hanzō Katō 12 June 1922 2 September 1923
30 Tanaka Giichi 2nd Yamamoto 2 September 1923 7 January 1924
31 Kazushige Ugaki Kiyoura 7 January 1924 11 June 1924
32 Kazushige Ugaki Katō 11 June 1924 30 January 1926
33 Kazushige Ugaki 1st Wakatsuki 30 January 1926 20 April 1927
34 Yoshinori Shirakawa 1st Tanaka 20 April 1927 2 July 1929
35 Kazushige Ugaki Hamaguchi 2 July 1929 14 April 1931
36 Jirō Minami 2nd Wakatsuki 14 April 1931 13 December 1931
37 Sadao Araki Inukai 13 December 1931 26 May 1932
38 Sadao Araki Saitō 26 May 1932 23 January 1934
39 Senjūrō Hayashi Saitō 23 January 1934 8 July 1934
40 Senjūrō Hayashi Okada 8 July 1934 5 September 1935
41 Yoshiyuki Kawashima Okada 5 September 1935 9 March 1936
42 Hisaichi Terauchi Hirota 9 March 1936 2 February 1937
43 Kōtarō Nakamura ] Hayashi 2 February 1937 9 February 1937
44 Sugiyama Hajime Hayashi 9 February 1937 4 June 1937
45 Sugiyama Hajime 1st Konoe 4 June 1937 3 June 1938
46 Seishirō Itagaki 1st Konoe 3 June 1937 5 January 1939
47 Seishirō Itagaki 1st Hiranuma 5 January 1939 30 August 1939
48 Shunroku Hata Abe 30 August 1939 16 January 1940
49 Shunroku Hata Yonai 16 January 1940 22 July 1940
50 Hideki Tojo 2nd Konoe 22 July 1940 18 July 1941
51 Hideki Tojo 3rd Konoe 18 July 1941 18 October 1941
52 Hideki Tojo Tojo 18 October 1941 22 July 1944
53 Sugiyama Hajime Koiso 22 July 1944 7 April 1945
54 Korechika Anami Suzuki 7 April 1945 14 August 1945
55 Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni Higashikuni 17 August 1945 23 August 1945
56 Sadamu Shimomura Higashikuni 23 August 1945 9 October 1945
57 Sadamu Shimomura Shidehara 9 October 1945 1 December 1945

References

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