Baron was a general in the

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 ...

Biography

Nara was born in what is now part of Kanuma city,

Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...

to a farming family. He attended military preparatory schools as a youth, and graduated from the 11th class of the

Imperial Japanese Army Academy The was the principal officer's training school for the Imperial Japanese Army. The programme consisted of a junior course for graduates of local army cadet schools and for those who had completed four years of middle school, and a senior course f ...

in 1889 as a second lieutenant in the artillery. In 1893, he attended the Army Artillery School, and the participated in 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 ...

from 1894-1895. After the war, he returned to the Army Staff College, graduating from the 13th class in December 1899. He subsequently served in a number of staff positions within the

Imperial Japanese Army General Staff The , also called the Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Role The was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of Military Af ...

, and was sent to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as a

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

. During 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 ...

, Nara was commander of an Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade which operated the siege artillery units attached to the IJA 3rd Army. After the war and another visit to Germany, he rose to be Vice Minister of War. Promoted to major general in 1914, he served as commander of the Japanese China Garrison Army, and later as chief of staff of Japanese forces in

Qingdao Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...

. Nara was promoted to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

in 1918, and attended the Versailles Peace Treaty Conference as part of the Japanese delegation. He also chaired the commission investigating the Nikolayevsk Incident. Nara subsequently served as Chief aide-de-camp to Crown Prince Hirohito, and then as Chief

Aide-de-camp to the Emperor of Japan In Japan, the is a special military official whose primary duties are to report military affairs to the Emperor and act as a close attendant ( chamberlain). From 1896 through to 1945, a small number of army and naval aides-de-camp were supplied t ...

after Hirohito's coronation, until 1933. At the request of the ''

genrō was an unofficial designation given to a generation of elder Japanese statesmen, all born in the 1830s and 1840s, who served as informal extraconstitutional advisors to the emperor during the Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa eras of Japan ...

Yamagata Aritomo Prince was a Japanese politician and general who served as prime minister of Japan from 1889 to 1891, and from 1898 to 1900. He was also a leading member of the '' genrō'', a group of senior courtiers and statesmen who dominated the politics ...

, Nara supervised the Crown prince’s education in military affairs through both lectures and active experience. Under his direction, Hirohito mastered horsemanship, and practiced firing live weapons, even to the extent of having a firing range built within the Akasaka Palace.Bix, ''Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan''. Page 45-46 In 1921, he was part of the entourage which accompanied Hirohito on his official visit to Europe. He was promoted to full general in 1924 and became a member of the Privy Council. In 1933, he was elevated to 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'') under 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 system, retiring from his military career soon afterwards. In the post war period, he served as Chairman of the '' Dai Nippon Butoku Kai.'' Nara died in 1962 and his diaries from the period that he was aide-de-camp to Emperor Hirohito shed additional light on the thoughts and role of the Emperor during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References

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External links

Imperial Japanese Army bio site (Japanese)

Notes

Most of the information in this article was translated from the Japanese Wikipedia site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nara, Takeji 1868 births 1962 deaths Military personnel from Tochigi Prefecture People from Kanuma, Tochigi Japanese generals Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Kazoku