Itagaki Seishiro

Army officer (general) and Minister of the Army. Born in Iwate Prefecture on January 21, 1885. Graduated from the Army Academy and the Army War College. After serving as a member of the General Staff, he became an aide to Honjo Shigeru, military attaché at the Beijing legation. When Honjo became commander of the Kwantung Army, he was appointed senior staff officer and head of the Mukden special agency under Honjo. Together with operational staff officer Ishiwara Kanji, he caused the Manchurian Incident in 1931, and after the establishment of "Manchukuo", he served as the highest advisor to the military administration of Manchukuo, chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, and division commander. During this time, he advocated that "Manchukuo" should be "Five Races Under One Union" and "A Land of Kingly Pleasure", and he established the Manchuria Colonization Company and promoted an immigration plan of 1 million households and 5 million people over a period of 20 years, which he called the "continental migration of the Japanese people". In May 1938, he joined the first Konoe Fumimaro cabinet as Minister of War, and worked to implement the additional National Mobilization Law and the Manchuria Five-Year Industrial Plan. He also served in the Hiranuma Kiichiro cabinet, where he promoted the Wang Jingwei government's maneuverings and took a hard-line stance on the issue of the Tripartite Pact. He later became commander of the Korean Army and commander of the 7th Area Army. He was found a Class A war criminal at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and executed by hanging on December 23, 1948.

[Ryuji Sasaki]

"Secret Records of Itagaki Seishiro" (1967, Dosho Publishing Association)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

陸軍軍人（大将）、陸軍大臣。明治18年1月21日岩手県に生まれる。陸軍士官学校、陸軍大学校卒業。参謀本部員のあと北京(ペキン)公使館付陸軍武官本庄繁(ほんじょうしげる)の補佐官となる。本庄が関東軍司令官になるとその下で高級参謀、奉天(ほうてん)特務機関長に就任し、作戦参謀石原莞爾(いしわらかんじ)とともに1931年（昭和6）満州事変を引き起こし、「満州国」創設後は満州国軍政部最高顧問、関東軍参謀長、師団長を歴任した。この間、「満州国」を「五族協和」「王道楽土」にすると主張し、満州拓殖株式会社を設立して、20年間に100万戸、500万人という移民計画を推進し、これを「日本民族の大陸移動」と名づけた。1938年（昭和13）5月、第一次近衛文麿(このえふみまろ)内閣の改造で陸相として入閣、国家総動員法の追加発動、満州産業五か年計画の実施に努め、平沼騏一郎(ひらぬまきいちろう)内閣にも留任して、汪兆銘(おうちょうめい)政権工作を推進し、三国同盟問題で強硬態度を示した。のち朝鮮軍司令官、第七方面軍司令官となる。極東国際軍事裁判でA級戦犯として、1948年（昭和23）12月23日絞首刑に処せられた。

［佐々木隆爾］

『『秘録　板垣征四郎』（1967・同書刊行会）』

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