11 Facts About Akiyama Yoshifuru

Akiyama Yoshifuru was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and was considered the father of modern Japanese cavalry.

Akiyama Yoshifuru was the older brother of Vice Admiral Akiyama Saneyuki.

Akiyama Yoshifuru entered the Rikugun Shikan Gakko in 1877.

Akiyama Yoshifuru went on to attend the Army Staff College, and was sent as a military attache to France to study cavalry tactics and techniques.

Akiyama Yoshifuru was the only Japanese officer sent to study at the Ecole speciale militaire de Saint-Cyr at a time when the rest of the Japanese Army had turned to the Imperial German Army as its model and was being taught by instructors from Germany.

Akiyama Yoshifuru was often mistaken for a European student by many foreign instructors such as Jakob Meckel while at the Japanese Army Academy.

Akiyama Yoshifuru was reputed to be a plain-living person who had a bowl of rice with slices of pickles for his meal.

Akiyama Yoshifuru became commander of the IJA 13th Division in 1913, and after his promotion to full general in 1916, was given command of the Imperial Guards Division.

Akiyama Yoshifuru died of complications from diabetes at the Army Medical School Hospital in Tokyo in 1930, and his grave is in the city of Matsuyama.

Akiyama Yoshifuru is one of the main characters of Saka no Ue no Kumo, a novel by Ryotaro Shiba, adapted as a historical drama on the Japanese television network NHK from 2009 to 2011.

Akiyama Yoshifuru inspired the character Dot Pixis in the manga series Attack on Titan.