Kikuzō Ōtani

Japan state institutions Counter-revolution 1856–1923 ○ Died of illness

Japanese general who commanded the Vladivostok Expeditionary Force and the whole Allied intervention in Siberia in 1918–1919

The seventh son of a Chinese-classics scholar who taught at the Obama domain school, he enlisted in 1871 and graduated from the Army Academy. He served with Imperial General Headquarters in the First Sino-Japanese War and, in the Russo-Japanese War, as chief of logistics of the Second Army and chief of staff of the Korea Garrison Army. He became commander of the Tsingtao garrison in 1915 and a full general the next year. Appointed commander of the Vladivostok Expeditionary Force on 9 August 1918, he led Japan's Siberian intervention and on 18 August took command of all Allied forces there. In August 1919 he became Inspector-General of Military Training, and on retiring to the reserve in 1920 he was made a baron.

Also known as: Kikuzo Otani