Uehara Yūsaku

Viscount Uehara Yūsaku
Japanese General Viscount Uehara Yūsaku
Native name	上原 勇作
Born	December 6, 1856 Miyakonojō, Hyūga, Japan
Died	November 8, 1933 (aged 76) Tokyo, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1879–1933
Rank	Field Marshal
Commands held	IJA 3rd Division
Battles/wars	Russo-Japanese War
Other work	Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff

Viscount Uehara Yūsaku (上原 勇作, 6 December 1856 – 8 November 1933) was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army.

Biography

Born in Miyakonojō, Hyūga Province (currently Miyazaki Prefecture, Uehara's father was a samurai of the Satsuma Domain. He graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1879 with Akiyama Yoshifuru as one of his classmates. Promoted to lieutenant in September 1882, Uehara was sent to France for studies on modern military techniques from 1881 to 1885. He was promoted to captain in June 1885, to major in May 1890, to lieutenant colonel in September 1894 and to colonel in October 1897. Promoted to major general in July 1900, Uehara fought in the Russo-Japanese War, as a staff officer in the Japanese Fourth Army commanded by his father-in-law, General Nozu Michitsura.^[1] He was promoted to lieutenant general in July 1906 and ennobled as a baron in September of the following year.

In December 1912, Uehara was appointed War Minister in Prime Minister Saionji Kinmochi's second cabinet. Since the civilian government was pursuing a tight fiscal policy, it soon came into conflict with the army, which was demanding an increase in funding for another two infantry divisions. When Uehara resigned as War Minister over this conflict, the remainder cabinet resigned en masse when the Army refused to nominate a successor, precipitating the collapse of Saionji's government. This event was known as the "Taisho Political Crisis".^[2]

From March–June 1913, Uehara was commander in chief of the IJA 3rd Division. In February 1915, Uehara was promoted to general and became Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, remaining in this post longer than any person before or after (with the exception of a member of the Imperial House). While in this position, he (together with Tanaka Giichi and Ugaki Issei authorized the Siberian Intervention in support of White Russian forces against the Bolshevik Red Army in the Russian Civil War.

Uehara received the rank of marshal in April 1921, and was ennobled with the title of shishaku (viscount) under the kazoku peerage system the same year.^[3]

Later, Uehara became Inspector General of Military Training, one of the three most prestigious posts within the Army. He was also the founder of the Imperial Japanese Army Engineering Corps.

Uehara died in 1933.

Notes

1. Dupuy, Encyclopedia of Military Biography
2. Sims, Japanese Political History
3. 華族一覧表　勲功者の部　1

References

• Dupuy, Trevor N. (1992). Encyclopedia of Military Biography. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 1-85043-569-3.
• Harries, Meirion. (1994). Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House. ISBN 0-679-75303-6.
• Jansen, Marius B. (1992). The Making of Modern Japan. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674003347; OCLC 44090600
• Sims, Richard. (1992). Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23915-7.

External links

• National Diet Library. "Uehara Yusaku". Portraits of Modern Historical Figures.