Viscount was a general in the early

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

.Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', p. 273.

Biography

Ōshima was the younger son of a teacher of ''

sōjutsu , meaning "art of the spear", is the Japanese martial art of fighting with a . Origins Although the spear had a profound role in early Japanese mythology, where the islands of Japan themselves were said to be created by salt water dripping fr ...

'' ("art of the spear") of Akita Domain (present day

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...

). From 1868 to 1869 he fought during the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

on the imperial side, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the early

. In December 1875, he was deputy chief-of-staff of the Tokyo Garrison. During the

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the , was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government of the Empire of Japan, nine years into the Meiji era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in ...

of 1877, he commanded a battalion. He returned to the Tokyo Garrison after the war, serving in various posts, and was promoted to colonel in April 1887. In April 1889, he was appointed commander of the Guard’s Third Infantry Regiment and in June 1890 was commandant of the Army Staff College. In 1892, Ōshima was promoted to major general and was assigned command of the IJA 5th Infantry Brigade. In November 1893, he took over command of the IJA 6th Infantry Brigade, which he led in combat during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

. After the war, Ōshima served as chief-of-staff of the Taiwan Garrison and in August 1895 was elevated to the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. It was formed by merging the feudal lords (''Daimyo, daimyō'') and court nobles (''kuge'') into one system modelled after the British peerage. Distin ...

'' peerage with the title of

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

(''danshaku''), and was also awarded the

Order of the Golden Kite Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

, 3rd class. He was promoted to lieutenant general in October 1898, and was assigned command of the newly formed IJA 9th Infantry Division. In 1903, he was awarded the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...

, 1st class. With the start of the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, Ōshima led the IJA 9th Division at the

Siege of Port Arthur The siege of Port Arthur (, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; , ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. Port Arthur, the deep-water port and Russian naval base ...

, under the overall command of General Nogi Maresuke’s Third Army. His forces played a major role in the bloody

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

of Hill 203, and afterwards fought at the Battle of Mukden. In April 1906, he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon and the

, 2nd class and was promoted to general in May. In June, he was assigned command of the Imperial Guards. In September 1907, Ōshima was also elevated from baron to viscount (''shishaku''). In 1908, he was promoted to Inspector-General of Military Training, one of the three most powerful posts in the Imperial Japanese Army. He was subsequently named a military councilor in 1911 and entered the reserves in September 1913 and retired from service in 1918.

Decorations

* 1885 –

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

, 3rd class * 1895 – JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 4Class BAR

, 4th class * 1895 – JPN Kinshi-kunsho 3Class BAR

, 3rd class * 1895 – Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd class * 1903 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure * 1906 – JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun * 1906 – JPN Kinshi-kunsho 2Class BAR

Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class『官報』号外「叙任及辞令」December 30, 1906

References

* * * *

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshima, Hisanao 1848 births 1920 deaths Military personnel from Akita Prefecture Japanese generals Kazoku Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class People of the Boshin War Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War