Background
Maresuke Nogi was born on 25 December 1849 in the M5ri family residence in Edo.He was a son of Nogi Maretsugu, a samurai of the domain of Chóshü.
乃木 希典
Maresuke Nogi was born on 25 December 1849 in the M5ri family residence in Edo.He was a son of Nogi Maretsugu, a samurai of the domain of Chóshü.
He attended the Meirinkan, the official domain school in Hagi. He lived in the home of his uncle Tamaki Bunnoshin, the teacher of the celebrated scholar and patriot Yoshida Shoin, and received training from his uncle as well.
In the Boshin civil war of 1868 he served under Yamagata Aritomo, engaging in battles with the forces remaining loyal to the shogunate in the Tohoku area. After the Meiji Restoration he went to Kyoto and enlisted at Fushimi as a member of the imperial guard. He was dispatched to help put down a disturbance in the domain of Yamaguchi. In 1871 he became a major under the newly established system of army ranks. In 1876 he took part in the action to put down an antigovernment disturbance in Hagi led by discontented samurai. In 1877 he took part in the Seinan War as commander of an infantry regiment, but on his way to the rebel encampment at Kumamoto, his regimental flag was seized by the enemy. Nogi prepared to commit suicide, and though he was finally dissuaded by those around him, the sense of disgrace caused by the incident remained with him the rest of his life.
In 1883 he became chief of staff of the Tokyo Garrison. In 1885 he was promoted to the rank of major general and the following year went to Germany along with another high army officer, Kawakami Soroku, to study military organization and methods of warfare. After his return to Japan in 1888, he served as a brigade commander in Tokyo and Nagoya, but was obliged to retire from duty for a time because of illness, living quietly in Nasuno in Tochigi Prefecture.
He returned to duty to participate in the Sino-Japanese War in 1894 as commander of the Eleventh Brigade, capturing Port Arthur in a single day. The following year, as lieutenant general and commander of the Second Brigade, he took control of Taiwan. He returned to Japan in victory in 1896 and the same year, at the request of Kodama Gentaro, became the third governor of Taiwan. He did not prove to be suited for an administrative position, however, and in 1898 turned over the post to Kodama. He became commander of the Eleventh Brigade, but in 1901 took leave from his post and once more retired to Nasuno to convalesce. With the outbreak of the Russo- Japanese War in 1904 he was restored to duty as commander of the Imperial Guard Division. Later he became commander of the Third Army with the rank of full general. He laid siege to Port Arthur, repeatedly launching full-scale attacks, and in 1905, after mui b bit/cr fighting and with the aid of Kodama, the commander of the Manchurian Army, he finally succeeded in taking the city. He also participated in the fighting at Mukden. He lost two of his own sons in the fighting and seems to have felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility because of the large number of men killed in the action.
After the war, he became a military councilor of state and in 1907 was advanced from the title of baron to that of count. He also served as head of the Peers’ School. Emperor Meiji looked to him in particular to train the sons of the nobility, and he responded by setting an example of correct moral and spiritual education. In 1911 he went to England along with the naval leader Togo Heihachiro to attend the coronation of George V.
General Nogi was highly admired for his virtue, an idealist who exemplified the finest qualities of the ancient code of the warrior. He was popularly referred to as “War God Nogi” and is deified at Nogi Shrine in Akasaka, Tokyo.
In 1916, when Emperor Meiji died, General Nogi and his wife Shizuko committed suicide at their home in Akasaka on the morning of the funeral. Their action, an example of the old custom of following one’s lord in death, greatly moved the people of the time.
