Ōyama Iwao

was a Japanese field marshal, and one of the founders of the Imperial Japanese Army. He was representative of the outstanding military commanders of the late modern period.

Early life

thumb|140px|left|Birthplace in [[Kagoshima]]

Ōyama was born in Kagoshima to a samurai family of the Satsuma Domain. He was a younger paternal cousin to Saigo Takamori. A protégé of Ōkubo Toshimichi, he worked to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate and thus played a major role in the Meiji Restoration. He served as the commander of the Detached First Brigade during the Boshin War. At the Battle of Aizu, Ōyama was the commander of the Satchōdo's field artillery positions on Mount Oda. During the course of the siege, he was wounded by an Aizu guerilla force under Sagawa Kanbei.

Since at least 1904, local accounts have confused Ōyama Iwao with Sukeichi Oyama (1858-1922), Japanese engraver who studied at Temple Hill Academy in Geneseo, New York, United States.

Military career

thumb|left|Field Marshal Ōyama during the Russo-Japanese War

In 1870, Ōyama was sent overseas to the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in France (August 1870 – March 1871) On his return home, he helped establish the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army, which was soon employed in suppressing the Satsuma Rebellion, After the war, Ōyama was disparaged by American reporter Trumbull White for failing to restrain his troops during the Port Arthur Massacre.

For his services Ōyama received the title of marquis under the kazoku peerage system, and, three years later in January 1898,

After Japan's victory, Emperor Meiji elevated him in September 1907 the highest rank of the Empire of Japan.

Political career and death

As the War Minister in several cabinets and as the Chief of the Army General Staff, Ōyama upheld the autocratic power of the oligarchs (genrō) against democratic encroachments. However, unlike Yamagata Aritomo, Ōyama was reserved and tended to shun politics. From 1914 to his death he served as the ,

In 1906, Ōyama was awarded the Order of Merit by King Edward VII. His Japanese decorations included Order of the Golden Kite (1st class) and Order of the Chrysanthemum.

Ōyama died at the age of seventy five in 1916, and was accorded a state funeral. In the next year she accepted her former enemy's proposal.

Ōyama was Emperor Meiji's first candidate for rearing future emperor Hirohito as a sort of surrogate father in 1901, in accordance with royal customs, but Ōyama declined and the role instead went to Count Kawamura Sumiyoshi.

Ōyama's first son Takashi, a navy cadet, died in the accidental explosion and sinking of the cruiser in 1908. His second son became an archaeologist after he retired from the army.

House

Ōyama, who spoke and wrote several European languages fluently, also liked European-style architecture. During his tenure as the War Minister, he built a large house in Tokyo modelled after a German castle.

Although he was very pleased with the design, his wife Sutematsu did not like it at all, and insisted that the children's room be remodelled in Japanese style, so that they would not forget their Japanese heritage. The house was destroyed by the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923 or possibly by American air raids during World War II .

Kimigayo

In 1869, the British military band instructor John William Fenton, who was then working in Yokohama as an o-yatoi gaikokujin, told the members of Japan's military band about the British national anthem "God Save the King" and emphasised the necessity of a similar national anthem for Japan. The band members requested artillery Captain Ōyama Iwao, who was well versed in Japanese and Chinese literature, to select appropriate words and Ōyama selected the poem which came to be used in Japan's national anthem kimigayo.

Honours

thumb|Statue of General Ōyama Iwao at Kudanzaka in Tokyo.

From the Japanese Wikipedia

Japanese

Peerages and other titles

Count (7 July 1884)
Marquess (5 August 1895)
Gensui (20 January 1898)
Prince (21 September 1907)
Genrō (13 August 1912)

Decorations

60px Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1 November 1882; Second Class: 9 November 1877)
60px Imperial Constitution Promulgation Medal (25 November 1889)
60px Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers (5 August 1895)
60px 1894–95 Sino-Japanese War Medal (18 November 1895)
60px 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War Medal (1 April 1906)
60px Order of the Golden Kite, First Class (1 April 1906; Second Class: 5 August 1895)
60px Collar of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (1 April 1906; Grand Cordon: 3 June 1902)
60px Emperor Taishō Enthronement Commemorative Medal (10 November 1915)
Silver gift cup set (1 April 1916)
60px First World War Medal (1 April 1916)

Court order of precedence

Senior sixth rank (May 1871)
Senior fifth rank (24 February 1875)
Fourth rank (16 December 1879)
Senior fourth rank (24 May 1880)
Third rank (27 December 1884)
Second rank (19 October 1886)
Senior second rank (20 December 1895)
Junior First Rank (10 December 1916; posthumous)

Foreign

60px Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy (20 March 1883)
60px Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Prussia (4 February 1884)
60px Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus of the Kingdom of Italy (9 February 1885)
60px Knight First Class of the Order of the Iron Crown of Austria-Hungary (9 February 1885)
60px Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the White Eagle of the Russian Empire (1885)
60px Order of the Crown of Thailand, 1st Class (1 May 1891)
60px Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class of the Ottoman Empire (27 May 1891)
60px Knight of the Order of Merit of the Prussian Crown with swords (22 March 1906)
60px Order of Merit (OM) of the United Kingdom (5 April 1906)
60px Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour of France (27 December 1906; Grand Officer: 13 April 1883)

Other

Namesake of Oyama, British Columbia, a small town in British Columbia, Canada and Oyama Regional Park in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Ancestry

Notes

References

Bix, Herbert P. (2000). Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. New York: HarperCollins. ;
Jansen, Marius B. and Gilbert Rozman, eds. (1986). Japan in Transition: from Tokugawa to Meiji. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ; OCLC 12311985
Jansen, Marius B., (2000). The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 44090600
Keene, Donald. (2002). Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912. New York: Columbia University Press. ; OCLC 46731178

External links

National Diet Library
1,564 Original/microfisch items for Iwao Oyama (1842 – 1916), list of items available as pdf format . Some are published on Digital Collection, NDL.