Background
Uryu Sotokichi was born on January 2, 1857 in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.
Uryu, in the uniform of the United States Naval Academy
外吉 瓜生
Uryu Sotokichi was born on January 2, 1857 in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.
Uryu Sotokichi became one of the first cadets of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy but did not graduate; instead, he was then sent to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis on 9 June 1875, returning on 2 October 1881.
Commissioned as a lieutenant, Sotokichi Uryu served aboard various ships throughout the 1880s, including the corvette Kaimon, the ironclad Fuso, and the sloop Nisshin. On 23 July 1891, he assumed his first command: the gunboat Akagi. Promoted to captain in 1891, he was then posted as naval attaché to France from 5 September 1892 to 31 August 1896.
After the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, Sotokichi Uryu briefly commanded the new cruiser Akitsushima, followed by his old ship Fuso. On 28 December 1897, he faced a court-martial over a collision in the Seto Inland Sea in stormy weather between the cruisers Itsukushima and Matsushima, and was sentenced to prison for three months from 5 April 1898. However, this did not seem to hurt his career, as Sotokichi Uryu was appointed captain of Matsushima on 1 February 1899, and the battleship Yashima on 16 June 1898. He became a rear admiral and Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff on 21 May 1900.
Sotokichi Uryuwas promoted to vice admiral on 6 June 1904. During the Russo-Japanese War, he commanded the Second Squadron at the Battle of Chemulpo Bay which resulted in the destruction of the Russian cruiser Varyag and gunboat Korietz. For his war service, he was decorated with the Order of the Rising Sun (1st class) and the Order of the Golden Kite (2nd class) in 1906.
Sotokichi Uryu was made commander of the Sasebo Naval District on 22 November 1906, he was ennobled with the title of danshaku (baron) under the kazoku peerage system on 21 September 1907. Appointed commander of the Yokosuka Naval District on 1 December 1909, he was made a full admiral on 16 October 1912. He was the official representative from Japan at the opening ceremonies for the Panama Canal in 1912. From 1922-1925, he served on the House of Peers in the Diet of Japan. Sotokichi Uryu entered the reserve list in 1927, and died in 1937. His grave is at Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo..