Akiyama Yoshifuru

In thisJapanese name,thesurnameisAkiyama.

Akiyama Yoshifuru
Born	(1859-02-09)February 9, 1859 Matsuyama,Iyo,Japan
Died	November 4, 1930(1930-11-04)(aged 71) Matsuyama, Ehime,Japan
Allegiance	Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1877–1923
Rank	Rikugun-Taishō(General)
Commands	IJA 1st Division IJA 5th Division
Battles/wars	First Sino-Japanese War Boxer Rebellion Russo-Japanese War
Awards	Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Paulownia Flowers Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Rising Sun Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Sacred Treasure Order of the Golden Kite,2nd Class Grand Officer

Akiyama Yoshifuru(Thu sơn hảo cổ,February 9, 1859 – November 4, 1930)was a general in theImperial Japanese Army,and was considered the father of modern Japanesecavalry.He was the older brother of Vice AdmiralAkiyama Saneyuki.

Biography

Early life

Born as the third son to a bankruptsamuraiin theMatsuyama Domain,Iyo Province(modernEhime Prefecture), Akiyama worked as afire stokerandjanitorin a local public bathhouse as a child.

Akiyama entered theRikugun Shikan Gakkō(the forerunner of theImperial Japanese Army Academy) in 1877.He went on to attend theArmy Staff College,and was sent as amilitary attachéto France to study cavalry tactics and techniques. He was the only Japanese officer sent to study at theÉcole spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyrat a time when the rest of the Japanese Army had turned to theImperial German Armyas its model and was being taught by instructors from Germany.

Akiyama was often mistaken for a European student by many foreign instructors such asJakob Meckelwhile at the Japanese Army Academy. He was reputed to be a plain-living person who had a bowl of rice with slices of pickles for his meal. However, he spent his money onsakeand was known to be a heavy drinker.

Military career

General Akiyama

Akiyama was active in theFirst Sino-Japanese Warof 1894–1895 as a cavalry regimental commander in theIJA 1st Division,and served with Japanese expeditionary forces in the subsequentBoxer Rebellionwith theIJA 5th Division.In theRusso-Japanese Warof 1904–1905, he led his troops in theBattle of Shaho,Battle of Sandepu,and in theBattle of Mukdenagainst theCossackcavalry divisions of theImperial Russian Army.In April 1906, he was awarded theOrder of the Golden Kite(2nd class).

Akiyama became commander of theIJA 13th Divisionin 1913, and after his promotion to fullgeneralin 1916, was given command of theImperial Guards Division.The following year, he was assigned command of theChosen Army.In 1920, he becameDirector General for Military Education.

After he retired from active military service in 1923, declining promotion toField Marshal,he returned to his native island ofShikokuand became the principal of the Hokuyō Junior High School (present-day Matsuyama High School). Akiyama died of complications fromdiabetesat the Army Medical School Hospital in Tokyo in 1930, and his grave is in the city of Matsuyama.

Portrayals in fiction

Akiyama is one of the main characters ofSaka no Ue no Kumo( "Clouds Over the Slope" ), a novel byRyōtarō Shiba,adapted as ahistorical dramaon the Japanese television networkNHKfrom 2009 to 2011. Akiyama was portrayed by actorHiroshi Abe.

Akiyama inspired the characterDot Pixisin the manga seriesAttack on Titan.When series author,Hajime Isayama,stated this inspiration he received death threats and criticism regarding the general's actions in the military, primarily regarding Akiyama and hisdivision'sinvolvement in thePort Arthur Massacre.

Honours

With translated material from the corresponding Japanese Wikipedia article

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, Paulownia Flowers(1 November 1930, posthumous)
• Order of the Rising Sun, 1st class(29 November 1918)
• Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class(28 November 1913)
• Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class(1 April 1906)
• Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur
• Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
• Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd class
• Order of Saint Stanislaus, 2nd Class
• Order of St. Anna, 2nd class

Order of precedence

• Senior eighth rank (5 June 1880)
• Seventh rank (7 April 1883)
• Senior seventh rank (188?)
• Sixth rank (11 January 1893)
• Senior sixth rank (24 March 1896)
• Fifth rank (30 October 1897)
• Senior fifth rank (20 October 1902)
• Fourth rank (11 November 1907)
• Senior fourth rank (28 December 1912)
• Third rank (31 January 1916)
• Senior third rank (10 March 1919)
• Second rank (30 April 1923)

References

Books

• Dupuy, Trevor N. (1992).Encyclopedia of Military Biography.I B Tauris & Co Ltd.ISBN1-85043-569-3.
• Oide, Hishashi. (1992).Meisho Akiyama Yoshifuru: Kibo no saizensen shikikan no shogai.Kojinsha.ISBN4-7698-0391-5.

External links

• Portrait and biography at National Diet Library