Count (May 3, 1844 – February 3, 1923) was a soldier who served in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). He was the head of the Japanese First Army (1st Army) during the Russo-Japanese War; and his forces enjoyed a series of successes during the Manchurian fighting at the Battle of Yalu River, the Battle of Liaoyang, the Battle of Shaho and the Battle of Mukden.

Early life

Born as the son of a samurai in the Satsuma domain in southern Kyūshū in what is now Kagoshima prefecture, Kuroki fought for the Shimazu clan against the Shogunal forces in the Boshin War during the Meiji Restoration. He was a commander of the infantry at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi and later at the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle.

Imperial Japanese Army

In 1871, Kuroki enlisted with the rank of captain in the newly established Imperial Japanese Army and, within four years, was soon promoted to lieutenant colonel.

During the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, Kuroki commanded a regiment against his own clan, and 17 years later, as lieutenant general, he commanded the IJA 6th Division in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), during which time he took part in the Battle of Weihaiwei.

Russo-Japanese War

Promoted to the rank of general in November 1903, Kuroki was appointed commander of the Japanese 1st Army upon the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War the following year. After landing his forces at Chemulpo near Seoul in mid-February, Kuroki advanced north routing a smaller Russian force at the Battle of the Yalu River on 30 April-1 May, 1904. Commanding the Japanese left flank at the Battle of Liaoyang, he repulsed a disorganized Russian attack from 25 August-3 September.

During the Battle of Shaho, Kuroki's forces again successfully defended against the Russian offensive under General Aleksei Nikolaevich Kuropatkin from 5 October-17 and later commanded the Japanese right flank at the Battle of Mukden from 21 February-10 March 1905.

In the same way that the Russo-Japanese War is arguably identified as the first modern war, Gen. Kuroki can be described as one of the first modern generals, not only because his forces were the ultimate victors. In addition to directing the fight against the Russians, Kuroki was obliged to devote attention to a large coterie of Western observers. Press coverage of the war was affected by restrictions on the movement of reporters and strict censorship. In all military conflicts which followed this 1904-1905 war, close attention to more managed reporting was considered essential.

Kuroki's senior military attaché, Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton, would somewhat mis-apply lessons learned in Kuroki's retinue. At Gallipoli in 1915, the Chief Field Censor was William Maxwell, a British journalist who had been in Kuroki's entourage during 1904-1905.

These experiences provided a model that a young American military attaché, Capt. John J. Pershing would adapt a decade later in Europe when he persuaded American journalist Frederick Palmer to take on the task of press accreditation for the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). Palmer, like Pershing, had experienced the Russo-Japanese War through the filter Gen. Kuroki had imposed.

Later years

Despite his success and previous military record, Kuroki was one of two senior field commanders denied promotion to Field Marshal, thought to be largely because of his Satsuma origins at a time when the government was dominated by Chōshū rivals although this may have been due to the internal politics within the Japanese Imperial Army of the time.

Retiring from military service in 1909, he received the title of danshaku (baron) and later hakushaku (count) under the kazoku peerage system.

From 1917 onwards served as a until his death in 1923.

Notes

References

• Connaughton, Richard Michael. (1988). The War of the Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear: A Military History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5. London: Routledge. 10-ISBN 0-415-00906-5; 13-ISBN 978-0-415-00906-5 (cloth); 10-ISBN 0-415-07143-7; 13-ISBN 978-0-415-07143-7 (paper) -- reprinted by [Cassell Military]], London, 2004. 10-ISBN 0-304-36657-9; 13-ISBN 978-0-304-36657-6 (paper)
• Davis, Richard Harding et al. (1905). The Russo-Japanese war; a photographic and descriptive review of the great conflict in the Far East, gathered from the reports, records, cable despatches, photographs, etc., etc., of Collier's war correspondents New York: P. F. Collier & Son. OCLC: 21581015
• Dupuy, Trevor N. et al. (1992). [ Encyclopedia of Military Biography.] London: I. B. Tauris & Co. 10-ISBN 1-850-43569-3; 13-ISBN 978-1-850-43569-3; OCLC 59974268
• Harries, Meirion et al. (1992). Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. New York: Random House. 10-ISBN 0-394-56935-0; 13-ISBN 978-0-394-56935-2
• Humphreys, Leonard A. (1995). [ The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920's.] Stanford: Stanford University Press. 10-ISBN 0-804-72375-3; 13-ISBN 978-0-804-72375-6
• Kepplinger, Hans Mathias, Hans-Bernd Brosius and Joachim Friedrich Staab. "Instrumental Actualization: A Theory of Mediated Conflicts," European Journal of Communication, Vol. 6, No. 3, 263-290 (1991) DOI: 10.1177/0267323191006003002
• Kowner, Rotem. (2006). Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. 10-ISBN 0-810-84927-5; 13-978-0-810-84927-3; OCLC 58985767
• Roth, Mitchel P. and James Stuart Olson. (1997). Historical Dictionary of War Journalism. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. 10-ISBN 0-313-29171-3; 13-ISBN 978-0-313-29171-5
• Towle, Philip. (1998). "Aspects of the Russo-Japanese War: British Observers of the Russo-Japanese War," Paper No. IS/1998/351. STICERD, LSE.
• Sisemore, James D. (2003). Sisemore, James D. (2003). "The Russo-Japanese War, Lessons Not Learned." U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

External links

• Russo-Japanese War Research Society
• National Diet Library: Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures, Kuroki.