Background
Hirose Takeo was born in Oita Prefecture. Son of Shigetake, a retainer of the Oka Clan.
廣瀨武夫
Hirose Takeo was born in Oita Prefecture. Son of Shigetake, a retainer of the Oka Clan.
Commissioned a naval second-lieutenant (1891) and rose to lieutenant-commander.
After the Sino-Japanese War (1894-5), he was sent to Russia and stayed there six years, inspecting its military and other conditions. On his way back to Japan, he inspected Siberia and Manchuria, Participated during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5) in the blockading of Port Arthur. Coinmanding, the Fukui Maru, he steered the ship to the mouth of the port and scuttled her. Before the ship sank, Hirose and all other men on the Fukui Maru evacuated except Non-Commissioned Officer Magoshichi Sugino. Hirose went back to the sinking ship thrice in search of the missing man, despite intense Rus-sian fire concentrated on the ship. When he had given up the search and was about to board a boat, a Russian cannon-ball hit him directly. Thus he died on March 27,1904, leaving only a bit of his flesh in the boat. Was posthumously promoted to commander. Hirose death was much publicized and he was called Gunshin, or warrior-god.