Viscount was a field marshal in the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

Biography

Kawamura was born in

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

in the

Satsuma han The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, l ...

feudal domain A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

(present day Kagoshima prefecture. He first fought as a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

in the Anglo-Satsuma War. He was part of the Satsuma forces in the Boshin War to overthrow the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. After 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

he was appointed commander of the Imperial Guards. He also served as field commander in the suppression of various insurrections during the early years of the Meiji era, including the

Hagi Rebellion The was an uprising against the Meiji government of Japan that occurred in Hagi from 28 October 1876 to 5 November 1876. Maebara Issei, a disillusioned hero of the Meiji Restoration and former ''samurai'' of the Chōshū Domain, planned an att ...

and the

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

. Kawamura led his Imperial Guards Division in the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...

and went to the front in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

as field commander. On the conclusion of that war, he was ennobled by Emperor Meiji with the title of ''danshaku'' ( baron) under the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ...

'' peerage system. In the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

of 1904-1905, Kawamura succeeded

Prince Fushimi Sadanaru was the 22nd head of the Fushimi-no-miya shinnōke (branch of the Imperial Family). He was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army. Early life Prince Sadanaru was born in Kyoto as the fourteenth son of Prince Fushimi Kuniie (1802– ...

as commander of the Japanese 10th Division, and served notably as field commander at the Battle of Yalu River (1904). In January 1905, being promoted to General, he was appointed Commander of the

Japanese Fifth Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army based in Manchukuo from the Russo-Japanese War until the end of World War II. During World War II it was under the overall command of the Kwantung Army. History Russo-Japanese War The Japanese 5 ...

and took part in the Battle of Mukden. After Japan's victory, Emperor Meiji elevated him to the title of ''shishaku'' (

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicia ...

). After the war, Kawamura served as chief of the Tokyo Garrison, and in 1915 he became a field marshal. His Japanese decorations included the

Order of the Golden Kite The was an order of the Empire of Japan, established on 12 February 1890 by Emperor Meiji "in commemoration of Jimmu Tennō, the Romulus of Japan". It was officially abolished 1947 by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) during the ...

(1st class), Order of the Rising Sun (1st class with Paulownia Blossoms, Grand Cordon) and the Grand Cordon of the Supreme

Order of the Chrysanthemum is Japan's highest order. The Grand Cordon of the Order was established in 1876 by Emperor Meiji of Japan; the Collar of the Order was added on 4 January 1888. Unlike its European counterparts, the order may be conferred posthumously. Apart fr ...

. Kawamura's grave is at Aoyama Cemetery in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. His daughter married

Hideyoshi Obata was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Biography Obata was the fifth son of a Chinese language scholar from Osaka prefecture. He attended military preparatory schools and graduated from the 23rd class of the Imperial J ...

, who served as a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Notes

References

* * Jansen, Marius B. and

Gilbert Rozman Gilbert Friedell Rozman (born 18 February 1943) is an American sociologist specializing in Asian studies. Rozman completed an undergraduate degree in Chinese and Russian studies at Carleton College, and earned a doctorate in sociology at Princet ...

, eds. (1986). ''Japan in Transition: from Tokugawa to Meiji.'' Princeton:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financia ...

.
OCLC 12311985
* ____________. (2000). ''The Making of Modern Japan.'' Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

.
OCLC 44090600
* Keene, Donald. (2002). ''Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912.'' New York:

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...

.
OCLC 46731178
*

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kawamura, Kageaki Marshals of Japan People of the Boshin War People from Satsuma Domain 1850 births 1926 deaths Samurai Kazoku Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Japanese generals People of Meiji-period Japan Shimazu retainers Recipients of the Virtuti Militari Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite People of the Satsuma Rebellion People from Kagoshima