Ministry of the Army

This was the agency that controlled the military administration of the former Japanese Army. It started as the Dajokan (Grand Council of State), and later became a Cabinet ministry. In February 1872 (Meiji 5), the Ministry of War was abolished, and the Ministry of War's Army Department became the Ministry of Army. In March of the following year, 1873, the Ministry of Army organizational structure and the Ministry of Army Ordinances were enacted, and came into effect the following April. The head of the Ministry of Army was the Minister of Army, and he was assisted by the Minister of Army, the Minister of Army Affairs ... In addition, a Seventh Bureau was supposed to be established with the task of preparing armaments for Hokkaido, but this was never actually established. In February 1874, the Sixth Bureau was abolished and the General Staff Bureau was established as an external bureau of the Ministry of the Army, which became the General Staff Headquarters in December 1878, becoming an institution independent of the Ministry of the Army and exclusively responsible for military orders under the direct control of the Emperor. In October 1879, the Army Official System was established and the Army Ministry Ordinances were revised. As a result, the Ministry of the Army was made up of five bureaus: the General Affairs Bureau, the Personnel Bureau, the Artillery Bureau, the Engineers Bureau, and the Accounting Bureau, and in March 1885, the Transportation Bureau was newly added. With the inauguration of the Cabinet system in February 1886, the Ministry of the Army Official System was established, and the Minister's Secretariat, General Affairs Bureau, Cavalry Bureau, Artillery Bureau, Engineers Bureau, Accounting Bureau, and Medical Affairs Bureau were established under the Minister and Vice-Minister. In November 1888, the Judge Advocate General's Department was added, and in March 1890, the four bureaus of General Affairs, Cavalry, Artillery, and Engineers were integrated into the Military Affairs Bureau. In May 1900 (Meiji 33), the Army Ministry's official regulations were revised to create six bureaus: General Affairs, Personnel, Military Affairs, Accounting, Medical, and Legal Affairs. This regulation also limited the qualifications for appointment of the Minister of the Army to active-duty generals and lieutenant generals, and established the system of active-duty military attachés to the Minister of the Army. Subsequently, the Ordnance Bureau was established in 1908, the Maintenance Bureau in 1926, and the Military Affairs Bureau in 1936, and the Ordnance Bureau was abolished in 1942 and the Maintenance Bureau in April 1945. The qualifications for appointment of ministers were abolished in the 1913 revision, but the active-duty system was reinstated in 1936. The system of active-duty military attachés to the Minister of the Army, along with the independence of supreme command, became a weapon to strengthen the political position of the military. As the war expanded, the Ministry of the Army gained more influence within the government, and the Military Affairs Bureau, which handled government affairs, came to occupy a central position in the Cabinet. In April 1945, just before Japan was defeated, the Military Affairs Bureau and the Fourth Department of the General Staff were combined to form a unified ministry and department system in preparation for the decisive battle on the Japanese mainland. Following Japan's defeat in the war, the Ministry of the Army was abolished on November 30, 1945 (Showa 20), and the work of dealing with the remaining affairs was handed over to the First Ministry of Demobilization, a downsized version of the Ministry of the Army.

[Akira Fujiwara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

旧日本陸軍の軍政を管轄する機関で、初めは太政官(だじょうかん)のちに内閣の一省。1872年（明治5）2月兵部(ひょうぶ)省が廃止され、兵部省陸軍部がそのまま陸軍省となった。翌1873年3月陸軍省職制ならびに陸軍省条例が制定され、翌4月から実施された。陸軍省の長は陸軍卿(きょう)で、それを補佐するものに、大輔(たいふ)、少輔(しょうゆう)、大丞(だいじょう)、少丞(しょうじょう)があった。1873年の職制では陸軍省の機構は、卿官房、陸軍部時代の秘史局を受け継いだ第一局、軍務局を継いだ第二局、砲兵局を継いだ第三局、築造兵局を継いだ第四局、会計局を継いだ第五局、外局であった参謀局を継いだ第六局からなっていた。そのほかに北海道兵備を任務とする第七局が設けられることになっていたが、実際には置かれなかった。1874年2月第六局が廃止され、陸軍省の外局として参謀局が設置され、これがさらに1878年12月参謀本部となり、陸軍省から独立した天皇直属の軍令専掌機関となった。1879年10月陸軍職制が制定され、陸軍省条例が改正された。これにより陸軍省の機構は総務局、人員局、砲兵局、工兵局、会計局の5局となり、1885年3月には新たに輜重(しちょう)局が加わった。1886年2月内閣制度発足とともに陸軍省官制が定められ、大臣、次官のもとに大臣官房、総務、騎兵、砲兵、工兵、会計、医務の各局が置かれた。1888年11月法官部が加わり、1890年3月には総務、騎兵、砲兵、工兵の4局が軍務局に統合された。1900年（明治33）5月、陸軍省官制の改正で、総務、人事、軍務、経理、医務、法務の六局制となった。またこの官制で陸軍大臣の補任資格を現役の大・中将に限ることとなり、軍部大臣現役武官制が確立した。その後1908年兵器局、1926年（大正15）整備局、1936年（昭和11）兵務局が新設され、1942年兵器局、1945年4月整備局が廃止された。大臣の補任資格は1913年の改正で現役を削除したが、1936年ふたたび現役制を復活した。軍部大臣現役武官制は統帥権の独立とともに軍部の政治的地位を強化する武器となった。戦争の拡大とともに陸軍省の政府部内における発言権は大きくなり、政務を扱う軍務局は、内閣の中枢を占めるまでになった。敗戦直前の1945年4月、軍務局と参謀本部第四部の職を合体する省部一体制がとられ、本土決戦に備えた。敗戦により1945年（昭和20）11月30日陸軍省は廃止され、残務処理のための業務を、陸軍省を縮小した第一復員省に引き継いだ。

［藤原　彰］

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