Takarabe Takeshi

Takarabe Takeshi

Takarabe Takeshi ( Japanese 財 部 彪 ; * April 7, 1867 in today's Miyakonojō ; † January 13, 1949 ) was a Japanese admiral in the Imperial Navy , who served from May 1923 to January 1924, June 1924 to April 1927 and July 1929 to October 1930 was Minister of the Navy .

Life

Military training and naval officer

Takarabe Takeshi, son of a samurai of the Miyakonojō clan, began as a midshipman and participant in the 15th course at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy (Kaigun Heigakkō) in Tsukiji . His fellow students included Takeo Hirose and the future Minister of the Navy and Prime Minister Okada Keisuke . After he had completed his training as the best of 80 participants in his year, he was promoted to ensign at sea on April 20, 1889 . This was followed by a use on board the training ship Kongō and from March 14, 1890 on the protected cruiser Takachiho . After his promotion to lieutenant at sea (Shōi) he was transferred to the Takachiho's deputy navigator on July 9, 1890 and then to the protected cruiser Matsushima on July 23, 1891 , on which he was also deputy navigator from August 28, 1891 and from took part in a trip to France on December 14, 1891 . After his return, he attended a course at the from 21 December 1892 Naval College (Kaigun Daigakkō) part and then returned on 19 December 1893 as deputy navigator to Matsushima , before February 22, 1894 the unprotected cruiser Takao was transferred . On this he was promoted to lieutenant captain ( Daii ) on December 7, 1894, initially a section officer and, from June 12, 1895, at the same time senior navigational officer. During its use aboard the Takao , it participated in the First Sino-Japanese War . The troop landings in Korea and Port Arthur were protected , patrols in the Yellow Sea and participation in the Battle of Weihai took place .

In 1908 Takarabe was in command of the unit ship of the line Fuji

After a subsequent use between September 6, 1895 and June 26, 1897 as an officer in the staff of the rescue fleet, Takarabe completed a degree in the United Kingdom from June 26 to April 25, 1899 . On his return he was on July 25, 1899 Lead supply officer for Ikazuchi belonging class destroyer Niji and received in this application on 29 September 1899. His promotion to Lieutenant Commander (Shōsa) . He was then from October 6, 1899 to May 26, 1900 commander of torpedo boats of the torpedo corps at the Yokosuka naval base . He then returned to the destroyer Niji and briefly took over his first command post on June 22, 1900. This was followed by between 4 July 1900, the January 17, 1907 various uses in the bar of the readiness fleet and the Japanese Imperial General Staff of the Navy , during which he on 26 September 1903 Commander (chusa) and on January 12, 1905 Captain was promoted to sea (Daisa) . After taking part in a voyage to the United Kingdom from January 17 to August 7, 1907, on his return he became commander of the protected cruiser Soya on September 28, 1907 and commander of the unit ship of the line Fuji on December 10, 1908 . This was followed by Chief of Staff of the 1st Fleet from December 10, 1908 to December 1, 1909 .

Promotion to Admiral and Minister of the Navy

After his subsequent promotion to Rear Admiral (Shōshō) Takarabe Takeshi succeeded Vice Admiral Katō Tomosaburō as Vice-Navy Minister on December 1, 1910 and held this post until he was replaced by Rear Admiral Suzuki Kantarō on April 17, 1914. At the same time, he was in personal union from December 1, 1909 to May 11, 1914 member of the Admiralty Committee and also from December 1, 1909 to April 1, 1910 and again between January 18, 1911 and April 17, 1914 director of the interim construction department in the Navy Ministry. During this time he was promoted to Vice Admiral (Chūjō) on December 1, 1913 . After a waiting position from May 11, 1914 to February 5, 1915, he was commander of the 3rd Fleet and then on December 23, 1915, commander of the guard district stationed in Ryojun for the Kwantung lease area . After he was again a member of the Admiralty Committee between December 1, 1916 and December 1, 1917, he served between December 1, 1917 and December 1, 1918 as commander in chief of the Maizuru Marine District . On December 1, 1918, he took over the post of commander-in-chief of the Sasebo Marine District and kept it for almost three years until July 27, 1922. As such, on November 25, 1919, he was promoted to Admiral (Taisho) . He held between July 27, 1922 and May 15, 1923 the function of commander in chief of the Yokosuka Marine District and was again a member of the Admiralty Committee during this time.

On May 15, 1923, Takarabe Takeshi was appointed by Prime Minister Katō Tomosaburō for the first time as Minister of the Navy in his cabinet and also held this office in the subsequent second cabinet of his father-in-law, Prime Minister Yamamoto Gonnohyōe , until January 7, 1924 when the entire cabinet resigned from shame, after failure to uncover an attempted murder of Crown Prince Hirohito . After he was subsequently a member of the Navy Council, he was appointed by Prime Minister Katō Takaaki again as Minister of the Navy in his cabinet on June 11, 1924 and also held this position in the subsequent first cabinet of Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirō until April 20, 1927. Then he was first again a member of the Navy Council and on September 24, 1928 a member of the Secret Privy Council Sūmitsu-in , a body to advise the Tennō , to which he belonged until July 2, 1929.

On July 2, 1929 Prime Minister Hamaguchi appointed Osachi Takarabe for the third time as Minister of the Navy in his cabinet , to which he belonged until his replacement by Admiral Abo Kiyokazu on October 3, 1930. During this time he took part in the London Naval Conference from November 18, 1929 to May 19, 1930 as a Japanese negotiator . He was a proponent of the treaty that sought to limit the growth of naval armaments in the UK, USA and Japan, and was an opponent of rising militarization in Japan. In addition, he sought to strengthen diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom in order to revive the Anglo-Japanese Alliance , which earned him the reputation of a traitor in Japan and the reluctant recognition of the signing of the treaty by the high command. Most recently he became a member of the Marinerate again on October 3, 1930, before being transferred to the reserve on April 7, 1932 and retired on April 7, 1937.

He was married to a daughter of Admiral Yamamoto Gonnohyōe, who was also Minister of the Navy from 1898 to 1906, Prime Minister between 1913 and 1914 and again from 1923 to 1924 and also briefly Foreign Minister of Japan in 1923 .

In between 2009 and 2011 in the television station NHK broadcast drama Saka no Ue no Kumo about the Meiji era played Kisuke Iida the role of Takarabe Takeshi.

Background literature

• Trevor N. Dupuy : Encyclopedia of Military Biography , IB Tauris & Co Ltd., 1992, ISBN 1-85043-569-3 .
• Piers Brendon: The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s , Vintage, 2002, ISBN 0-375-70808-1 .
• Erik Goldstein: The Washington Conference, 1921-22: Naval Rivalry, East Asian Stability and the Road to Pearl Harbor , Routledge, 1994, ISBN 0-7146-4136-7 .
• J. Charles Schencking: Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922 , Stanford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8047-4977-9 .

Web links

• Entry on Imperial Japanese Navy
• Entry in the National Parliamentary Library

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Takarabe is the family name, Takeshi the first name.