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Kanji Ishiwara | |
|---|---|
 Ishiwara in 1934 | |
| Born | January 18, 1889 Shōnai, Yamagata, Japan |
| Died | August 15, 1949(1949-08-15) (aged 60) Takase, Japan |
| Allegiance |  Empire of Japan |
| Branch |  Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1909–1941 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant General |
| Commands | 4th Infantry Regiment, 1933–35 Chief of Operations Section, G-1, 1935–37 |
| Battles / wars | Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
| Awards | Order of the Golden Kite (3rd Class) Order of the Rising Sun (3rd Class) Order of the Sacred Treasure (4th Class) |
| Other work | Professor,Ritsumeikan University, 1941–42[1] |
Kanji Ishiwara (石原 莞爾,Ishiwara Kanji; 18 January 1889 – 15 August 1949) was a general in theImperial Japanese Army inWorld War II. He andSeishirō Itagaki were the men primarily responsible for theMukden Incident that took place inManchuria in 1931.
Ishiwara was born inTsuruoka City,Yamagata Prefecture, into asamurai class family. His father was a police officer, but as his clan had supported theTokugawa bakufu and then theNorthern Alliance during theBoshin War of theMeiji Restoration, its members were shut out of higher government positions.
At 13, Ishiwara was enrolled in a military preparatory school. He was subsequently accepted at the 21st class of theImperial Japanese Army Academy and graduated in 1909. He served in the IJA 65th Infantry Regiment inKorea after its annexation by Japan in 1910, and in 1915, he passed the exams for admittance to the 30th class of theArmy Staff College. He graduated second in his class in 1918.[2]
Ishiwara spent several years in various staff assignments and then was selected to study inGermany as amilitary attaché. He stayed inBerlin and inMunich from 1922 to 1925, focusing on military history andmilitary strategy. He hired several former officers from theGerman General Staff to tutor him, and by the time that he returned to Japan, he had formed a considerable background on military theory and doctrine.
Ishiwara was also the leader of a semi-religious and Pan-Asianist organization, the East-Asia League Movement (Tōarenmei undō 東亜連盟運動).[3]
Prior to leaving for Germany, Ishiwara had converted toNichiren Buddhism. Nichiren taught that '[Japan is] superior to India, China and eighty thousand other countries', and that, though theDegenerate Age has arrived, there is still hope by believing in theLotus Sutra, and Japan would the land where the teaching of theLotus Sutra would prevail, whence it would be propagated to the rest of the world.[4]
Inspired byHans Delbrück, Ishiwara proposed that there are two types of war: protracted and decisive. Japan must unify Asia under its leadership, in preparation for a protracted war with the West under American leadership. He also hoped that an intervention of Manchuria would awaken Japan to its historical mission. He expected that before the final war, Japan would fight a war with America over who can control China, and Japan would prevail.[5]
Ishiwara felt that the period of world conflict was fast approaching, and Japan, relying upon its vision of thekokutai and its sacred mission to "liberate"China, would lead a unified East Asia to defeat the West.[6] He claimed "Japan must be victorious, not for the sake of her own national interest, but for the salvation of the world."[7]
InOn World Final War, he argued that technology determines the history of war, and the history of war determines history. There will soon be a final war, which would be decided by the air war. Future aircraft would be powered by new sources of power, such that they can remain flying almost indefinitely, and they would fly long distances to strike directly at other nations' capitals. To avoid this, Japan should dismantle the cities and disperse industry into agricultural communities, resulting in the "unity of agriculture and industry".[3]
Ishiwara was assigned to the Army Staff College as an instructor, followed by a staff position within theKwantung Army inManchuria. He arrived there at the end of 1928, some months after the assassination ofZhang Zuolin. Ishiwara quickly realized that the confused political situation in northern China, along with Japan's already significant economic investments in the area, provided the Kwantung Army with a unique opportunity. He and ColonelSeishiro Itagaki began formulating a plan to take advantage of the situation.
On 18 September 1931, a bomb was secretly planted on the tracks of the Japanese-controlledSouthern Manchuria Railway by Kwantung Army elements. Charging that Chinese soldiers had attacked the rail line, Ishiwara ordered Japanese troops to seize the Chinese military barracks in the nearby city of Liutiaokou. He then ordered Kwantung Army units to seize control of all other Manchurian cities without informing the new commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, GeneralShigeru Honjo, or theImperial Japanese Army General Staff inTokyo.
The sudden invasion of Manchuria alarmed political leaders in Japan, and brought condemnation down on the country from the international community. Ishiwara thought it most likely that he would be executed or at leastdishonorably discharged for hisinsubordination. However, the success of the operation brought just the opposite. Ishiwara was admired by right-wing younger officers andultranationalist societies for his daring and initiative. In 1932, he traveled to Europe as a military attaché of the Japanese delegation to attend theGeneva Conference. In August 1933, He returned to Japan and was given command of theIJA 4th Infantry Regiment inSendai.
Ishiwara was appointed to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in 1935 as Chief of Operations, which gave him primary responsibility for articulating his vision for Japan's future. He was a strong proponent ofpan-Asianism and thehokushin-ron ("strike north") philosophy, as opposed to thenanshin-ron ("strike south") philosophy espoused by theImperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The strike north view held that Japan should join withManchukuo (the Japanese puppet state created out of occupied Manchuria in 1932) andChina to form an "East Asian League", which would then prepare for and fight a war with theSoviet Union. After the Soviet Union was defeated, Japan could move to the south to freeSoutheast Asia from European colonial rule. Following this victory, Japan would then be ready to tackle theUnited States.[6]
However, in order to implement these plans, Japan would need to build up its economy and military. Ishiwara envisioned a one-party "national defense state" with acommand economy in whichpolitical parties were abolished and venal politicians and greedy businessmen removed from power.
However, Ishiwara stopped short of calling for aShōwa Restoration and violent overthrow of the government. When theFebruary 26 Incident erupted in 1936, rebels assassinated a number of major politicians and government leaders and demanded a change in government in line with Ishiwara's philosophies. However, Ishiwara dashed their hopes by speaking out strongly against the rebellion and demanding proclamation ofmartial law. After Vice Chief of StaffHajime Sugiyama pulled troops in from garrisons around Tokyo, Ishiwara was named Operations Officer of the Martial Law Headquarters.
In March 1937 Ishiwara was promoted tomajor general and transferred back to Manchukuo as Vice Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army. He discovered to his dismay that his Army colleagues had no intention of creating a new pan-Asian paradise, and were quite content to play the role of colonial occupiers. Ishiwara denounced the Kwantung Army leadership, and proposed that all officers take a pay cut. He confronted the Kwantung Army commander-in-chief, GeneralHideki Tojo, over his allocation of funds to an officers' wives club. After becoming an embarrassment to his seniors, he was relieved of command and reassigned to a local army base atMaizuru, on the seacoast nearKyoto.
Back in Japan, he began to analyze Soviet tactics atNomonhan, where Japanese forces were defeated, proposing counter-strategies to be adopted by the Army. He wrote and gave public addresses, continuing to advocate an East Asia League partnership with China and Manchukuo and continuing to oppose theinvasion of China. He became alieutenant general in 1939 and was assigned command of theIJA 16th Division.
Ishiwara's political nemesis, Tōjō, now risen to the highest ranks, felt that the outspoken Ishiwara should be retired from the Army, but feared the reactions of young officers and right-wing activists. Finally, after Ishiwara publicly denounced Tōjō as an enemy of Japan who should "be arrested and executed," he was put on the retired list. Ishiwara went back to Yamagata, where he continued to write and study agriculture until the end of the war.
AfterWorld War II, theSupreme Commander of the Allied Powers called upon Ishiwara as a witness for the defense in theInternational Military Tribunal for the Far East. No charges were ever brought against Ishiwara himself, possibly due to his public opposition to Tōjō, the war in China, and theattack on Pearl Harbor. He displayed his old fire in front of the American prosecutor, arguing that U.S. PresidentHarry S. Truman should be indicted for themass bombing of Japanese civilians.[8] Ishiwara claimed that it was the Americans who forced to Japan, which had been isolated until the 19th century, to open door and encouraged Japanese to learn about the aggression of Great Powers. He sarcastically said that CommodoreMatthew C. Perry, who led Japan into international competition, should be summoned and punished as a war criminal.[9]
Since the fall of 1946, he lived on a farm inTakase-mura, Yamagata Prefecture, and died ofbladder cancer on 15 August 1949.
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