30 Facts About Kanji Ishiwara

Kanji Ishiwara was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.

Kanji Ishiwara's father was a police officer, but as his clan had supported the Tokugawa bakufu and then the Northern Alliance during the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration, its members were shut out of higher government positions.

At 13, Kanji Ishiwara was enrolled in a military preparatory school.

Kanji Ishiwara was accepted at the 21st class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and graduated in 1909.

Kanji Ishiwara served in the IJA 65th Infantry Regiment in Korea after its annexation by Japan in 1910, and in 1915, he passed the exams for admittance to the 30th class of the Army Staff College.

Kanji Ishiwara spent several years in various staff assignments and then was selected to study in Germany as a military attache.

Kanji Ishiwara stayed in Berlin and in Munich from 1922 to 1925, focusing on military history and military strategy.

Kanji Ishiwara hired several former officers from the German General Staff to tutor him, and by the time that he returned to Japan, he had formed a considerable background on military theory and doctrine.

Kanji Ishiwara felt that the period of world conflict was fast approaching, and Japan, relying upon its vision of the kokutai and its sacred mission to "liberate" China, would lead a unified East Asia to defeat the West.

Kanji Ishiwara was the leader of a semi-religious and Pan-Asianist organization, the East-Asia League Movement.

Kanji Ishiwara was assigned to the Army Staff College as an instructor, followed by a staff position within the Kwantung Army in Manchuria.

Kanji Ishiwara arrived there at the end of 1928, some months after the assassination of Zhang Zuolin.

Kanji Ishiwara quickly realized that the confused political situation in northern China, along with Japan's already significant economic investments in the area, provided the Kwantung Army with a unique opportunity.

Kanji Ishiwara then ordered Kwantung Army units to seize control of all other Manchurian cities without informing the new commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, General Shigeru Honjo, or the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in Tokyo.

Kanji Ishiwara thought it most likely that he would be executed or at least dishonorably discharged for his insubordination.

Kanji Ishiwara was admired by right-wing younger officers and ultranationalist societies for his daring and initiative.

Kanji Ishiwara returned to Japan and was given command of the IJA 4th Infantry Regiment in Sendai.

Kanji Ishiwara was appointed to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in 1935 as Chief of Operations, which gave him primary responsibility for articulating his vision for Japan's future.

Kanji Ishiwara was a strong proponent of pan-Asianism and the hokushin-ron philosophy, as opposed to the nanshin-ron philosophy espoused by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Kanji Ishiwara envisioned a one-party "national defense state" with a command economy in which political parties were abolished and venal politicians and greedy businessmen removed from power.

However, Kanji Ishiwara stopped short of calling for a Showa Restoration and violent overthrow of the government.

However, Kanji Ishiwara dashed their hopes by speaking out strongly against the rebellion and demanding proclamation of martial law.

In March 1937 Kanji Ishiwara was promoted to major general and transferred back to Manchukuo as Vice Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army.

Kanji Ishiwara denounced the Kwantung Army leadership, and proposed that all officers take a pay cut.

Kanji Ishiwara confronted the Kwantung Army commander-in-chief, General Hideki Tojo, over his allocation of funds to an officers' wives club.

Kanji Ishiwara wrote and gave public addresses, continuing to advocate an East Asia League partnership with China and Manchukuo and continuing to oppose the invasion of China.

Kanji Ishiwara became a lieutenant general in 1939 and was assigned command of the IJA 16th Division.

Finally, after Kanji Ishiwara publicly denounced Tojo as an enemy of Japan who should "be arrested and executed," he was put on the retired list.

Kanji Ishiwara went back to Yamagata, where he continued to write and study agriculture until the end of the war.

Kanji Ishiwara displayed his old fire in front of the American prosecutor, arguing that US President Harry S Truman should be indicted for the mass bombing of Japanese civilians.