was a Japanese

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

retainer of the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

, military strategist, and aristocrat. His

imina in modern times consist of a family name (surname) followed by a given name. Japanese names are usually written in kanji, where the pronunciation follows a special set of rules. Because parents when naming children, and foreigners when adoptin ...

was .

Biography

Ijichi Masaharu was born near the walls of

Kagoshima Castle was an Edo period flatland-style Japanese castle located in the city of Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2023. Kagoshima Castle was listed as one of Japan's Top 100 Castles ...

. He was the second son, and his father was . As a boy, he was given the

apotropaic Apotropaic magic (From ) or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superstition or out of tr ...

name . His family was a branch of the , an old family allegedly descended from the ancient

Taira The was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period of Japanese history – the others being the Minamoto, the Fujiwara, and the Tachibana. The clan is divided into four major groups, named ...

. At the age of 3, Ijichi was regarded as a

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

, but a childhood disease blinded his left eye and crippled his left leg. He suffered from the

lameness A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma; however, in the absence ...

caused by his disabled leg for the rest of his life. Ijichi studied Yakumaru

Jigen-ryū Jigen-ryū (示現流 lit: ''sudden revelation style'') is a traditional school ('' koryū'') of Japanese martial arts founded in the late 16th century by Tōgō Chūi (1560–1643), a.k.a. Tōgō Shigekata, in Satsuma Province, now Kagoshima p ...

under the instruction of . He also studied the Satsuma Domain's traditional of military strategy under and later . Encountering Ijichi in 1868,

Ernest Satow Sir Ernest Mason Satow (30 June 1843 – 26 August 1929), was a British diplomat, scholar and Japanologist. He is better known in Japan, where he was known as , than in Britain or the other countries in which he served as a diplomat. He was ...

described him as an "old, ugly, mis-shapen fellow".

Boshin War service

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 1868, Ijichi was appointed . Ijichi Masaharu has been described as an . At the , Ijichi defeated an army of more than 2,500 men with only 700 soldiers under his command. He also provided tactical guidance at the Battle of Bonari Pass. Ijichi's unique style of

maneuver warfare Maneuver warfare, or manoeuvre warfare, is a military strategy which emphasizes movement, initiative and surprise to achieve a position of advantage. Maneuver seeks to inflict losses indirectly by envelopment, encirclement and disruption, while ...

revolved around small units of highly trained and heavily armed

light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

advancing rapidly. In accordance with the teachings of the aggressive Gōden school, he made extensive use of

walking fire Marching fire, also known as walking fire, is a military tactic—a form of suppressive fire used during an infantry assault or combined arms assault. Advancing units fire their weapons without stopping to aim, in an attempt to pin down enemy defe ...

After the war

During the

Seikanron The ''Seikanron'' (; ; or 'Proposal to Punish Korea' or 'Argument for a Conquest of Korea') was a major political debate in Japan during 1873 regarding a punitive expedition against Korea. The ''Seikanron'' split the Meiji government and the res ...

debate of 1873, Ijichi was a strong advocate in support of the conquest of Korea. In 1884, he was created a . He died on May 23, 1886. He is described as having had an intense personality and brilliant mind, but there exist many anecdotes of his eccentricities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ijichi, Masaharu 1828 births 1886 deaths Samurai People of the Boshin War Japanese soldiers Japanese government officials Japanese nationalists Japanese generals People of the Meiji era