Maresuke Nogi
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Image:Maresuke Nogi.jpg General Maresuke Nogi, also known as Kiten, Count Nogi, (乃木希典 Nogi Maresuke, December 25 1849 - September 13 1912) was a Japanese army general, and a prominent figure in the Russo-Japanese War.
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Early life
Nogi was born to a house of samurai from the Chōfu region on November 11, 1849, according to the old Japanese lunar calendar, or Christmas day, according to the new one. His childhood name was Mujin, literally "no one", to prevent evil spirits from coming to harm him. On turning 18, he was renamed Nogi Bunzō.
Military career
Image:Nogi and Stessel.jpg In November 1869, by the order of the Nagato domain's lord, he enlisted in Fushimi Goshin Heisha (lit. the Fushimi Loyal Guard Barrack) to be trained in a French style for the Army. After completing the training, he was reassigned to the Kawatō Barrack in Kyoto as a teacher and then as Toyōra domain's Army trainer in charge of the coastal defence troop. In 1871, he became an Army major and renamed himself Maresuke taking a kanji from his father. In 1875, he became the 14th infantry regiment's attache, and for his service in the Seinannoeki civil war under Emperor Meiji, against the forces of Saigo Takamori in Kyushu, he would become a lieutenant colonel. In a fierce battle at that time, he lost the regiment's banner to the enemy, and he considered this a grave mistake which he listed as one of the reasons for his later seppuku. In October, his father Maretsugu died in Tokyo.
The next year, 1876, he was named as the Kumamoto regional troop's staff officer, and commanded the first infantry regiment. On August 27, he married Shizuko, the fourth daughter of Satsuma samurai Yuji Sadano, who was then 20 years old. Nogi was 28 years old at the time, a very late marriage at that time, considering that the average age to marry was in the early 20s. On August 28 1877, their first son Katsunori was born, and Nogi bought his first house at Nizakamachi, Tokyo. In 1878, he became a colonel. The next year, his second son, Yasunori, was born. Both sons were killed in action in the Russo-Japanese War. In this war Nogi commanded the vital Siege of Port Arthur.
Political career
He served as the Japanese Governor-General of Taiwan from 14 October 1896 to February 1898.
As head of the Peers' School from 1908-1912, he was the mentor of the young Hirohito, and was, perhaps, the most important influence on the life of the future emperor of Japan.
Seppuku
Image:House of Maresuke Nogi.jpg He committed seppuku shortly after the Meiji monarch's funeral entourage left the palace. The suicide was in accordance with the samurai practice of following one's master to death (junshi). Nogi and his spouse bathed together, and changed into white kimonos, before sharing a cup of sake before the tokonoma. He sliced his own stomach open, then slit his throat. After that, Shizuko stabbed herself in the chest. In his suicide letter, he said that he wished to expiate for that defeat in Kyushu, and the thousands of casualties at Port Arthur. All four members of the Nogi family are buried at Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.
External links
- Portrait of Nogi
- Nogi Shrine in Nogizaka, Tokyo. There is another in Shimonoseki and several others throughout Japan.de:Nogi Maresuke