Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff

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Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff

The was the highest organ within the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The origins of the Imperial Japanese Navy trace back to early interactions with nations on the Asia, beginning in the early history of Japan#Feudal Japan and reaching a peak of activity during the 16th and 17th centuries at a time of cultural diffusion with European power during the Age of Discovery....
. In charge of planning and operations, it was headed by an Admiral headquartered in Tokyo

Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
.

ted in 1893, the Navy General Staff took over operational (as opposed to administrative) authority over the Imperial Japanese Navy from the Navy Ministry

Ministry of the Navy of Japan

The was the Cabinet -level ministry from 1872-1945 in charge with administration of the Imperial Japanese Navy ....
. It was responsible for the planning and execution of national defense strategy, and reported directly to the Emperor

Emperor of Japan

The of Japan is the symbol of the state and of the unity of the Japanese people. He is the head of the Imperial House of Japan. Under Japan's present constitution, the Emperor is the "symbol of the state and the unity of the people," and is a ceremonial figurehead in a constitutional monarchy ....
, and not to the Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Japan

The is the usual English-language term used for the head of government of Japan, although the literal translation of the Japanese name for the office is Prime Minister of the Cabinet....
, Diet of Japan

Diet of Japan

The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives of Japan, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors....
or even the Navy Ministry.

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Encyclopedia

The was the highest organ within the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

Tokyo

History

Created in 1893, the Navy General Staff took over operational (as opposed to administrative) authority over the Imperial Japanese Navy from the Navy Ministry

Ministry of the Navy of Japan

Emperor of Japan

Prime Minister of Japan

Diet of Japan

The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives of Japan, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors....
or even the Navy Ministry. It was always headed by an admiral on active duty, and was based in Tokyo.

"The ministry was responsible for the naval budget, ship construction, weapons procurement, personnel, relations with the Diet and the cabinet and broad matters of naval policy. The General Staff directed the operations of the fleet and the preparation of war plans" .

After the Washington Naval Conference

Washington Naval Conference

The Washington Naval Conference also called the Washington Arms Conference, was a military conference called by the administration of President Warren G....
of 1921-22, where Japan agreed to keeping the size of its fleet smaller than that of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, the Imperial Japanese Navy became divided into mutually hostile into Fleet Faction

Fleet Faction

The was an unofficial and informal political faction within the Imperial Japanese Navy in the 1920s-1930s of officers opposed to the conditions imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty....
and Treaty Faction

Treaty Faction

The was an unofficial and informal political faction within the Imperial Japanese Navy in the 1920s-1930s of officers supporting the Washington Naval Treaty....
political cliques. The Navy Ministry tended to be pro-Treaty Faction and was anxious to maintain the Anglo-Japanese Alliance

Anglo-Japanese Alliance

The first was signed in London at what is now the , on January 30 1902, by Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne and Hayashi Tadasu . A diplomatic milestone for its ending of Britain's splendid isolation, the alliance was renewed and extended in scope twice, in 1905 and 1911, before its demise in 1921....
. However the Navy General Staff came to be dominated by the Fleet faction, and gradually gained ascendancy in the 1930s with increasing Japanese militarism

Japanese militarism

refers to the ideology in the Empire of Japan that militarism should dominate the political and social life of the nation, and that the strength of the military is equal to the strength of a nation....
.The Navy General Staff pushed through the attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Empire of Japan Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, later resulting in the United States becoming militarily involved in World War II....
against the wishes of the more diplomatic Navy Ministry.

After 1937, both the Navy Minister and the Chief of the Navy General Staff were members of the Imperial General Headquarters

Imperial General Headquarters

The as part of the Supreme War Council was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime....
.

With the defeat of the Empire of Japan

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until its defeat in World War II in 1945....
in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, the Navy General Staff was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Navy by the American occupation authorities

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the Occupation of Japan following World War II. Although subsequently there were, and continue to exist, other Supreme Allied Commanders, the SCAP title per se has only ever been given to MacArthur....
in November 1945 and was not revived by the post-war Constitution of Japan.

Organization

The General Staff was organized as follows:

1st Section: Operations Bureau
2nd Section: Weapons and Mobilization Bureau
3rd Section: Intelligence Bureau
4th Section: Communications Bureau

Chiefs of the Naval General Staff

	Date	Rank	Name	Notes
1	Mar 8 1889	Rear Admiral	Ito Toshiyoshi Ito Toshiyoshi Baron was an admiral in the early Imperial Japanese Navy, and served as the first Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff in the late 19th century....
2	May 17 1889	Rear Admiral	Arichi Shinanojo Arichi Shinanojo Baron was an admiral in the early Imperial Japanese Navy, and served as Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff in the late 19th century....
3	Jun 17 1891	Rear Admiral	Inoue Yoshika Inoue Yoshika Fleet Admiral Viscount was a career naval officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy during Meiji period....
4	Dec 12 1892	Vice Admiral	Nakamuta Kuranosuke Nakamuta Kuranosuke Viscount was an admiral in the early Imperial Japanese Navy....
5	Jul 18 1894	Vice Admiral	Kabayama Sukenori Kabayama Sukenori Count =BiographyBorn in Satsuma han domain to a samurai family, Kabayama fought in the Anglo-Satsuma War and the Boshin War.In 1871, he enlisted in the new Imperial Japanese Army and was accepted with the rank of major due to his previous combat experience....	Admiral from May 10 1895
6	May 11 1895	Vice Admiral	Ito Sukeyuki	Admiral from Sep 28 1898
7	Dec 20 1905	Admiral	Togo Heihachiro Togo Heihachiro Admiral of the Fleet Marquis , Order of Merit , Royal Victorian Order, was a Fleet Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and one of Japan's greatest naval heroes....
8	Dec 1 1909	Vice Admiral	Ijuin Goro Ijuin Goro Fleet Admiral Baron was a Meiji period career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy....	Admiral from Dec 1 1910
9	Apr 22 1914	Vice Admiral	Shimamura Hayao Shimamura Hayao Baron was a Japanese admiral during the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese Wars as well as one of the first prominent staff officers and naval strategists of the early Imperial Japanese Navy....	Admiral from Aug 28 1915
10	Dec 1 1920	Admiral	Yamashita Gentaro Yamashita Gentaro Baron was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy....
11	Apr 15 1925	Admiral	Suzuki Kantaro
12	Jan 22 1929	Admiral	Kato Hiroharu
13	Jun 11 1930	Vice Admiral	Taniguchi Naomi	Admiral from May 10 1895
14	Feb 2 1932	Admiral	Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu was a scion of the Imperial Household of Japan and was a career naval officer who served as Chief of staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1932 to 1941....	Fleet Admiral from May 27 1932
15	Apr 9 1941	Admiral	Nagano Osami	Fleet Admiral from June 21 1943
16	Feb 21 1944	Admiral	Shimada Shigetaro
17	Aug 2 1944	Admiral	Oikawa Koshiro Koshiro Oikawa was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and Ministry of the Navy of Japan during World War II....
18	May 29 1945	Admiral	Toyoda Soemu
Oct 15 1945			Office abolished

Books

External links

"Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East". . Accessed 2 March 2005.