Baron was an admiral in the early

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

.Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', p. 389-390.

Biography

Tōgō was born to a

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 ...

family of

Fukui Domain The , also known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1601 to 1871. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003). The ...

. He was sent by the domain to the predecessor 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 ...

when it was still located in Osaka, but left without graduating, and then entered the fourth class of the

Imperial Japanese Naval Academy The was a school established to train line officers for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was originally located in Nagasaki, moved to Yokohama in 1866, and was relocated to Tsukiji, Tokyo, in 1869. It moved to Etajima, Hiroshima, in 1888. Students ...

located in

Tsukiji Tsukiji (築地) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. Literally meaning "reclaimed land", it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 18th century during the Edo period. The eponymous Tsukiji fish market opened in 193 ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy. He served in his early career on the

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

''Kenko'' and the ironclads and .Nishida, '' People of the Imperial Japanese Navy'' He was promoted to lieutenant in 1885 and lieutenant commander in 1890. He later served on the staff of the Readiness Fleet. Tōgō was then

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

on the cruiser , ironclad Kongō, and cruiser before receiving his first command, the training ship ''Manju'', in 1893. 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 ...

, Tōgō was captain of the gunboat . He later commanded the ''

Saikyō Maru ''Saikyō Maru'' (西京丸) was a steamship that was built in 1888 in Scotland for Japanese merchant service. She was requisitioned for service in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. She was scrappe ...

,'' and corvettes and . After a stint at the Naval Staff College, he commanded the cruisers ''Yaeyama'' and ''Saien''. In 1897, Tōgō was appointed chief of staff of

Kure Naval District was the second of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the Inland Sea of Japan and the Pacific coasts of southern Honshū from Wakayama to Yamaguchi prefectures, eastern and northern K ...

and in 1899 oversaw the completion of the new

armored cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...

AG Vulcan Stettin Aktien-Gesellschaft Vulcan Stettin (short AG Vulcan Stettin) was a German shipbuilding and locomotive building company. Founded in 1851, it was located near the former eastern German city of Szczecin, Stettin, today Polish Szczecin. Because of th ...

in Germany and her first voyage to Japan. In 1902, he was promoted to rear admiral and served as commandant of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy. Immediately before 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 ...

, Tōgō was appointed commander of the 6th Battle Division of the

IJN 3rd Fleet The was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), which was created, and subsequently disbanded on six separate occasions and revived on five separate occasions. History Russo-Japanese War First established on 28 December 1903, the 3rd Flee ...

, which consisted of four cruisers led by his flagship, . He fought at the

Battle of the Yellow Sea The Battle of the Yellow Sea (; ) was a naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 August. The battle foiled an attempt by the Russian fleet at Lüshunkou (Port ...

and the

Battle of Tsushima The Battle of Tsushima (, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known in Japan as the , was the final naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 27–28 May 1905 in the Tsushima Strait. A devastating defeat for the Imperial Russian Navy, the ...

. In November 1905, after the end of the war, he was promoted to vice admiral and commander of the

IJN 4th Fleet The 4th Fleet was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Fourth Fleet designation was used during three separate periods. The initial designation was for a group of ships that were assigned to work together during the Russo-Japanese conflict ...

; however, he died only two months later. He was promoted to

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 posthumously. His grave is at

Aoyama Cemetery is a cemetery in Aoyama, Tokyo, Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The cemetery is known for its cherry blossoms and is popular during the season of . History The cemetery was origin ...

in Tokyo.

References

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External links

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Togo, Masamichi 1852 births 1906 deaths People from Fukui (city) Military personnel from Fukui Prefecture Imperial Japanese Navy admirals Kazoku Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War