陸軍省 Rikugun-shō | |
![]() Army HQ building,Ichigaya,Tokyo, from 1937–1945 | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | April 1872 (1872-04) |
Preceding agency | |
Dissolved | November 1945 (1945-11) |
Superseding agency | |
Jurisdiction | ![]() |
TheArmy Ministry (陸軍省,Rikugun-shō), also known as theMinistry of War, was thecabinet-level ministry in theEmpire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of theImperial Japanese Army (IJA). It existed from 1872 to 1945.
In the IJA and IJN, the ministries were in charge ofGunsei (軍政, military administration), andArmy General Staff Office andNavy General Staff were in charge ofGunrei (軍令, military command). The two were distinguished.
The Army Ministry was created in April 1872, along with theNavy Ministry, to replace theMinistry of War (兵部省,Hyōbushō) of the earlyMeiji government.
Initially, the Army Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of the Imperial Japanese Army. However, with the creation of theImperial 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 theNational Diet and theCabinet 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 theEmperor (the commander-in-chief of theImperial Japanese Armed Forces under theMeiji Constitution) and not thePrime 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 theMilitary Ministers to be Active-Duty Officers Law [ja] (軍部大臣現役武官制,Gumbu daijin gen'eki bukan sei) in 1900 by Prime MinisterYamagata Aritomo to curb the influence ofpolitical parties into military affairs. Abolished in 1913 under the administration ofYamamoto Gonnohyōe, the law was revived again in 1936 at the insistence of the Army General Staff by Prime MinisterHirota Kōki. At the same time, the Imperial Japanese Army prohibited its generals from accepting political offices except by permission fromImperial 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 ofrepresentative democracy and the rise ofJapanese militarism.
After 1937, both the Army Minister and the Chief of the Army General Staff were members of the Imperial General Headquarters.
With thesurrender of theEmpire of Japan inWorld War II, the Army Ministry was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Army by theAllied occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived in the post-warConstitution of Japan.
As in other Japanese ministries, eachbureau (局) belonged to a vice-minister. In addition,departments (部) and their higher-level organizations,headquarters (本部, "main department") were established as external bureaus.
The Army Ministry andImperial General Headquarters were located inIchigaya Heights, which is now part ofShinjuku,Tokyo.
Ministers of the Army orMinistry of War (陸軍大臣) is theMinister of State in charge of the Ministry. Under Japanese law prior to 1945, each ministers belonged directly to the Emperor.
No. | Portrait | Name | Term of Office | Cabinet | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | Ōyama Iwao 大山 巌 | 22 December 1885 | 17 May 1891 | 1stItō |
Kuroda | |||||
1stYamagata | |||||
1stMatsukata | |||||
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 |
1stŌkuma | |||||
2nd Yamagata | |||||
4th Itō | |||||
6 | ![]() | Kodama Gentarō 兒玉 源太郎 | 23 December 1900 | 27 March 1902 | |
1stKatsura | |||||
7 | ![]() | Terauchi Masatake 寺内 正毅 | 27 March 1902 | 30 August 1911 | |
1stSaionji | |||||
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 |
1stYamamoto | |||||
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 | |||||
1stWakatsuki | |||||
18 | ![]() | Yoshinori Shirakawa 白川 義則 | 20 April 1927 | 2 July 1929 | 1stTanaka |
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 | ![]() | Hajime Sugiyama 杉山 元 | 9 February 1937 | 3 June 1938 | |
1stKonoe | |||||
27 | ![]() | Seishirō Itagaki 板垣 征四郎 | 3 June 1938 | 30 August 1939 | |
1stHiranuma | |||||
28 | ![]() | Shunroku Hata 畑 俊六 | 30 August 1939 | 22 July 1940 | Abe |
Yonai | |||||
29 | ![]() | 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 |