Kuroki Tamemoto
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| Kuroki Tamemoto | |
|---|---|
| 3 May 1844 - 3 February 1923 | |
 General Kuroki Tamemoto |
|
| Place of birth | Satsuma, Japan |
| Place of death | Tokyo, Japan |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Service/branch |  Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1871-1909 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | IJA 6th Division, IJA 1st Army |
| Battles/wars | Boshin War First Sino-Japanese War Russo-Japanese War |
- In this Japanese name, the family name is Kuroki.
Count Tamemoto Kuroki (黒木為楨 Kuroki Tamemoto?) (3 May 1844 – 3 February 1923) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, who served as commander of the Japanese First Army during the Russo-Japanese War and enjoyed a series of successes in the Battle of Yalu River (1904), the Battle of Liaoyang, and the Battle of Shaho, as well as at the Battle of Mukden.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Born as the son of a samurai in the Satsuma domain in southern Kyūshū in what is now Kagoshima prefecture, Kuroki fought for the Shimazu clan against the Shogunal forces in the Boshin War during the Meiji Restoration. He was a commander of the infantry at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi and later at the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle. In 1871, he enlisted with the rank of captain in the newly established Imperial Japanese Army and, within four years, was soon promoted to lieutenant colonel.
During the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, Kuroki commanded a regiment against his own clan, and 17 years later, as lieutenant general, he commanded the IJA 6th Division in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), during which time he took part in the Battle of Weihaiwei. [1]
[edit] Russo-Japanese War
Promoted to the rank of general in November 1903, Kuroki was appointed commander of the Japanese 1st Army upon the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War the following year. After landing his forces at Chemulpo near Seoul in mid-February, Kuroki advanced north routing a smaller Russian force at the Battle of the Yalu River on 30 April-1 May 1904. Commanding the Japanese left flank at the Battle of Liaoyang, he repulsed a disorganized Russian attack from 25 August-3 September.
During the Battle of Shaho, Kuroki's forces again successfully defended against the Russian offensive under General Aleksei Nikolaevich Kuropatkin from 5 October-17 and later commanded the Japanese right flank at the Battle of Mukden from 21 February-10 March 1905.[2]
[edit] Later years
Despite his success and previous military record, Kuroki was one of two senior field commanders denied promotion to Field Marshal, thought to be largely because of his Satsuma origins at a time when the government was dominated by Chōshū rivals although this may have been due to the internal politics within the Japanese Imperial Army of the time. [3]
Retiring from military service in 1909, he received the title of danshaku (baron) and later hakushaku (count) under the kazoku peerage system in recognition of his distinguished war service and from 1917 onwards served as a privy councillor until his death in 1923. [4]
[edit] References
[edit] Books
- Dupuy, Trevor N. (1992). Encyclopedia of Military Biography. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 1-85043-569-3.
- Connaughton, Richard (2003). Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-36657-9.
- Kowner, Rotem (2006). Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War. 0-8108-4927-5: Scarecrow. ISBN.
- Harries, Meirion (1994). Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House. ISBN 0-679-75303-6.
[edit] External links
- Russo-Japanese War Research Society
- National Diet Library. Kuroki, Tamemoto. Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures.
