Yamashita Gentarō

Infobox Military Person
name=Baron Yamashita Gentarō
lived=30 July 1863 - 18 February 1931 [Nishida, Imperial Japanese Navy ]
placeofbirth=Yonezawa, Dewa Province, Japan
placeofdeath= Japan


caption=Japanese Admiral Yamashita Gentaro
nickname=
allegiance=Empire of Japan
branch=navy|Empire of Japan
serviceyears=1879 - 1928
rank=Admiral
commands="Iwate"
Imperial Japanese Naval Academy
Sasebo Naval District
IJN 1st Fleet, Combined Fleet
unit=
battles=First Sino-Japanese War
Boxer Rebellion
Russo-Japanese War
World War I
awards=
family=
laterwork=

Baron nihongo|Yamashita Gentarō |山下源太郎|Yamashita Gentarō|extra= 30 July 1863 – 18 February 1931 was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Biography

Born in the Yonezawa domain, Dewa Province (present day Yamagata prefecture), Yamashita graduated from the 10th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1883, ranked 4th out of 27 cadets. After midshipman service in the ironclad warship "Ryūjō", and cruiser "Asama" he was assigned to a number of ships in the early navy, including the corvette "Jingei", ironclad warship Fusō, corvette "Kaimon", gunboat "Atago", cruiser "Takachiho". He then attended advanced naval artillery training, and was assigned to the corvette "Hiei" as chief gunnery officer in 1891, followed by assignments on "Kaimon" and corvette "Musashi".

During the First Sino-Japanese War, he served as chief gunnery officer on the corvette "Kongō", followed by "Akitsushima". At the end of the war, Yamashita had a number of administrative assignments on shore.

In 1896, Yamashita was assigned to England to oversee ship construction. While based in London, he was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1897, and then to commander in 1898. On his return to Japan in 1899, he was appointed executive officer on the cruisers "Izumi" followed by the "Kasagi".

In July 1900, Yamashita was assigned command of Japanese marines during the Boxer Rebellion at Tientsin and, after serving special duty in Hong Kong and Chefoo, he was promoted to captain in 1903.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Yamashita served as an operations planner at the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff. Following the war, he was assigned command of the cruiser "Iwate", which proved to be the only time he ever actually captained a ship. After holding various staff posts between 1906 and 1912, Yamashita was promoted to rear admiral on 28 August 1908 and vice admiral on 1 December 1912. From 1910-1914, he was Commandant of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy.

Following Japan's entry into World War I, Yamashita served as vice chief of the Navy General Staff until 1915. From 1915-1917, he was Commander in Chief of the Sasebo Naval District. On 1 December 1917, he was given command of the IJN 1st Fleet. Promoted to admiral on 2 July 1918, Yamashita served as commander of the Combined Fleet, from 1 September 1918 until 28 October 1918, shortly before the war's end.

After serving as Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff from 1 December 1920 until 15 April 1925, Yamashita held several honorary and ceremonial posts until being placed on the second reserve list on 1 July 1928. He was ennobled with the title of "danshaku" (baron) under the "kazoku" peerage system on 10 November 1928, and lived in retirement until his death in 1931. His grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

Footnotes

References

*cite book
last = Agawa
first = Hiroyuki
authorlink =
year = 2000
title = The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy
publisher = Kodansha International
location =
id = ISBN 4770025394
*cite book
last = Dupuy
first = Trevor N.
year = 1992
title = Encyclopedia of Military Biography
publisher = I B Tauris & Co Ltd
location =
id = ISBN 1-85043-569-3
*cite web
last = Nishida
first = Hiroshi
url = http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/px10.htm#a003
title = Materials of IJN: Yamashita, Gentaro
work = Imperial Japanese Navy
accessdate = 2007-08-03