| 陸軍省 Rikugun-shō | |
 HQ building of the Imperial Japanese Army, Tokyo, from 1937–1945 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | April 1872 |
| Preceding | |
| Dissolved | November 1945 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Imperial Japanese Army |
The Army Ministry (陸軍省, Rikugun-shō), also known as the Ministry of War, was the cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). It existed from 1872 to 1945.
History
The Army Ministry was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of War (兵部省, Hyōbushō) of the early Meiji government.
Initially, the Army Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of the Imperial Japanese Army. However, with the creation of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office in December 1878, it was left with only administrative functions. Its primary role was to secure the army budget, weapons procurement, personnel, relations with the National Diet and the Cabinet and broad matters of military policy.
The post of Army Minister was politically powerful. Although a member of the Cabinet after the establishment of the cabinet system of government in 1885, the Army Minister was answerable directly to the Emperor (the commander-in-chief of all Japanese armed forces under the Meiji Constitution) and not the Prime Minister.
From the time of its creation, the post of Army Minister was usually filled by an active-duty general in the Imperial Japanese Army. This practice was made into law under the "Military Ministers to be Active-Duty Officers Law" (軍部大臣現役武官制, Gumbu daijin gen'eki bukan sei) in 1900 by Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo to curb the influence of political parties into military affairs. Abolished in 1913 under the administration of Yamamoto Gonnohyōe, the law was revived again in 1936 at the insistence of the Army General Staff by Prime Minister Hirota Kōki. At the same time, the Imperial Japanese Army prohibited its generals from accepting political offices except by permission from Imperial General Headquarters. Taken together, these arrangements gave the Imperial Japanese Army an effective, legal right to nominate (or refuse to nominate) the Army Minister. The ability of the Imperial Japanese Army to refuse to nominate an Army Minister gave it effective veto power over the formation (or continuation) of any civilian administration, and was a key factor in the erosion of representative democracy and the rise of Japanese militarism.
After 1937, both the Army Minister and the Chief of the Army General Staff were members of the Imperial General Headquarters.
With the surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II, the Army Ministry was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Army by the Allied occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived in the post-war Constitution of Japan.
Organization
- Under-Secretary of the Army (Vice Minister)
- Military Affairs Bureau
- Personnel Bureau
- Weapons Bureau
- Army Service Bureau
- Administration Bureau
- Intendance (Accounts and Supply)
- Medical
- Judicial Bureau
- Economic Mobilization Bureau
- Aeronautical Department
- Economic Mobilization (abolished in April 1945)
The Army Ministry and Imperial General Headquarters were located in Ichigaya Heights, which is now part of Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Ministers of the Army of Japan
| No. | Portrait | Name | Term of Office | Cabinet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | .jpg.webp) |
Ōyama Iwao 大山 巌 |
22 December 1885 |
17 May 1891 |
1st Itō |
| Kuroda | |||||
| 1st Yamagata | |||||
| 1st Matsukata | |||||
| 2 |  |
Takashima Tomonosuke 高島 鞆之助 |
17 May 1891 |
8 August 1892 | |
| 3 | |
Ōyama Iwao 大山 巌 |
8 August 1892 |
20 September 1896 |
2nd Itō |
| 2nd Matsukata | |||||
| 4 | |
Takashima Tomonosuke 高島 鞆之助 |
20 September 1896 |
12 January 1898 | |
| 5 |  |
Katsura Tarō 桂 太郎 |
12 January 1898 |
23 December 1900 |
3rd Itō |
| 1st Ōkuma | |||||
| 2nd Yamagata | |||||
| 4th Itō | |||||
| 6 |  |
Kodama Gentarō 兒玉 源太郎 |
23 December 1900 |
27 March 1902 | |
| 1st Katsura | |||||
| 7 |  |
Terauchi Masatake 寺内 正毅 |
27 March 1902 |
30 August 1911 | |
| 1st Saionji | |||||
| 2nd Katsura | |||||
| 8 |  |
Ishimoto Shinroku 石本 新六 |
30 August 1911 |
2 April 1912 |
2nd Saionji |
| 9 |  |
Uehara Yūsaku 上原 勇作 |
5 April 1912 |
21 December 1912 | |
| 10 |  |
Kigoshi Yasutsuna 木越 安綱 |
21 December 1912 |
24 June 1913 |
3rd Katsura |
| 1st Yamamoto | |||||
| 11 |  |
Kusunose Yukihiko 楠瀬 幸彦 |
24 June 1913 |
16 April 1914 | |
| 12 |  |
Oka Ichinosuke 岡 市之助 |
16 April 1914 |
30 March 1916 |
2nd Ōkuma |
| 13 |  |
Ōshima Ken'ichi 大島 健一 |
30 March 1916 |
29 September 1918 | |
| Terauchi | |||||
| 14 |  |
Tanaka Giichi 田中 義一 |
29 September 1918 |
9 June 1921 |
Hara |
| 15 |  |
Yamanashi Hanzō 山梨 半造 |
9 June 1921 |
2 September 1923 | |
| Takahashi | |||||
| Katō | |||||
| 16 | |
Tanaka Giichi 田中 義一 |
2 September 1923 |
7 January 1924 |
2nd Yamamoto |
| 17 |  |
Kazushige Ugaki 宇垣 一成 |
7 January 1924 |
20 April 1927 |
Kiyoura |
| Katō | |||||
| 1st Wakatsuki | |||||
| 18 |  |
Yoshinori Shirakawa 白川 義則 |
20 April 1927 |
2 July 1929 |
1st Tanaka |
| 19 | |
Kazushige Ugaki 宇垣 一成 |
2 July 1929 |
14 April 1931 |
Hamaguchi |
| 20 |  |
Jirō Minami 南 次郎 |
14 April 1931 |
13 December 1931 |
2nd Wakatsuki |
| 21 |  |
Sadao Araki 荒木 貞夫 |
13 December 1931 |
23 January 1934 |
Inukai |
| Saitō | |||||
| 22 |  |
Senjūrō Hayashi 林 銑十郎 |
23 January 1934 |
5 September 1935 | |
| Okada | |||||
| 23 |  |
Yoshiyuki Kawashima 川島 義之 |
5 September 1935 |
9 March 1936 | |
| 24 |  |
Hisaichi Terauchi 寺内 寿一 |
9 March 1936 |
2 February 1937 |
Hirota |
| 25 |  |
Kōtarō Nakamura 中村 孝太郎 |
2 February 1937 |
9 February 1937 |
Hayashi |
| 26 | .jpg.webp) |
Hajime Sugiyama 杉山 元 |
9 February 1937 |
3 June 1938 | |
| 1st Konoe | |||||
| 27 |  |
Seishirō Itagaki 板垣 征四郎 |
3 June 1938 |
30 August 1939 | |
| 1st Hiranuma | |||||
| 28 |  |
Shunroku Hata 畑 俊六 |
30 August 1939 |
22 July 1940 |
Abe |
| Yonai | |||||
| 29 | .jpg.webp) |
Hideki Tojo 東條 英機 |
22 July 1940 |
22 July 1944 |
2nd Konoe |
| 3rd Konoe | |||||
| Tojo | |||||
| 30 | |
Hajime Sugiyama 杉山 元 |
22 July 1944 |
7 April 1945 |
Koiso |
| 31 |  |
Korechika Anami 阿南 惟幾 |
7 April 1945 |
14 August 1945 |
Suzuki |
| 32 |  |
Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni 東久邇宮稔彦王 |
17 August 1945 |
23 August 1945 |
Higashikuni |
| 33 |  |
Sadamu Shimomura 下村 定 |
23 August 1945 |
1 December 1945 | |
| Shidehara | |||||
See also
References
- Edgerton, Robert B. (1999). Warriors of the Rising Sun: A History of the Japanese Military. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3600-7.
- Harries, Meirion (1994). Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House. ISBN 0-679-75303-6.
- "Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East". Adam Matthew Publications. Retrieved 2 March 2005.
