The , 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.
In the IJA and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), the ministries were in charge of Gunsei (軍政, military administration), and Army General Staff Office and Navy General Staff were in charge of Gunrei (軍令, military command). The two were distinguished.
History The Army Ministry was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the 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 Office 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 the Imperial 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 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 surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II, the Army Ministry was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Army by the Allied occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived in the post-war Constitution of Japan.
Organization As in other Japanese ministries, each bureau (局) belonged to a vice-minister. In addition, departments (部) and their higher-level organizations, headquarters (本部, "main department") were established as external bureaus. Vice Minister of the Army (陸軍次官) Military Affairs Bureau (軍務局) Personnel Bureau (人事局) Ordnance Bureau (兵器局) Development Bureau (整備局) Military Administration Bureau (兵務局) Intendance Bureau (経理局) Medical Bureau (医務局) Judge Bureau (法務局) Warhorse Bureau (軍馬局) external bureaus; Army Fortification Department (陸軍築城部) Army Transport Department (陸軍運輸部) Army Land Transport Department (陸軍陸運部) Army Military Relief department (陸軍恤兵部) Army Department (陸軍軍馬補充部) Army Aviation Department/Army Headquarters (陸軍航空部/陸軍航空本部) Army Technical Headquarters (陸軍技術本部) Army Ordnance Headquarters (陸軍兵器本部) Army Armour Headquarters (陸軍機甲本部) Army Ordnance Administrative Headquarters (陸軍兵器行政本部) Army Fuel Administrative Headquarters (陸軍燃料本部) Army Shipping Command (陸軍船舶司令部) Army Arsenals (陸軍造兵廠) Army Ordnance Depot (陸軍兵器廠) Yasukuni Shrine
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 Ministers of the Army or Ministers of War (陸軍大臣) is the Minister of State in charge of the Ministry. Under Japanese law prior to 1945, each ministers belonged directly to the Emperor. No. Portrait Name Term of Office Cabinet 1 Ōyama Iwao大山 巌 22 December1885 17 May1891 1st Itō Kuroda 1st Yamagata 1st Matsukata 2 Takashima Tomonosuke高島 鞆之助 17 May1891 8 August1892 3 Ōyama Iwao大山 巌 8 August1892 20 September1896 2nd Itō 2nd Matsukata 4 Takashima Tomonosuke高島 鞆之助 20 September1896 12 January1898 5 Katsura Tarō桂 太郎 12 January1898 23 December1900 3rd Itō 1st Ōkuma 2nd Yamagata 4th Itō 6 Kodama Gentarō兒玉 源太郎 23 December1900 27 March1902 1st Katsura 7 Terauchi Masatake寺内 正毅 27 March1902 30 August1911 1st Saionji 2nd Katsura 8 Ishimoto Shinroku石本 新六 30 August1911 2 April1912 2nd Saionji 9 Uehara Yūsaku上原 勇作 5 April1912 21 December1912 10 Kigoshi Yasutsuna木越 安綱 21 December1912 24 June1913 3rd Katsura 1st Yamamoto 11 Kusunose Yukihiko楠瀬 幸彦 24 June1913 16 April1914 12 Oka Ichinosuke岡 市之助 16 April1914 30 March1916 2nd Ōkuma 13 Ōshima Ken'ichi大島 健一 30 March1916 29 September1918 Terauchi 14 Tanaka Giichi田中 義一 29 September1918 9 June1921 Hara 15 Yamanashi Hanzō山梨 半造 9 June1921 2 September1923 Takahashi Katō 16 Tanaka Giichi田中 義一 2 September1923 7 January1924 2nd Yamamoto 17 Kazushige Ugaki宇垣 一成 7 January1924 20 April1927 Kiyoura Katō 1st Wakatsuki 18 Yoshinori Shirakawa白川 義則 20 April1927 2 July1929 1st Tanaka 19 Kazushige Ugaki宇垣 一成 2 July1929 14 April1931 Hamaguchi 20 Jirō Minami南 次郎 14 April1931 13 December1931 2nd Wakatsuki 21 Sadao Araki荒木 貞夫 13 December1931 23 January1934 Inukai Saitō 22 Senjūrō Hayashi林 銑十郎 23 January1934 5 September1935 Okada 23 Yoshiyuki Kawashima川島 義之 5 September1935 9 March1936 24 Hisaichi Terauchi寺内 寿一 9 March1936 2 February1937 Hirota 25 Kōtarō Nakamura中村 孝太郎 2 February1937 9 February1937 Hayashi 26 Hajime Sugiyama杉山 元 9 February1937 3 June1938 1st Konoe 27 Seishirō Itagaki板垣 征四郎 3 June1938 30 August1939 1st Hiranuma 28 Shunroku Hata畑 俊六 30 August1939 22 July1940 Abe Yonai 29 Hideki Tojo東條 英機 22 July1940 22 July1944 2nd Konoe 3rd Konoe Tojo 30 Hajime Sugiyama杉山 元 22 July1944 7 April1945 Koiso 31 Korechika Anami阿南 惟幾 7 April1945 14 August1945 Suzuki 32 Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni東久邇宮稔彦王 17 August1945 23 August1945 Higashikuni 33 Sadamu Shimomura下村 定 23 August1945 1 December1945 Shidehara
Timeline
See also Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office
References
"Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East". Adam Matthew Publications. Retrieved 2 March 2005.