General who directed the Three Alls campaigns in north China and signed the Japanese surrender at Nanjing in 1945
Born in Tokyo, he was an army China expert who spent his whole career on the continent. He was military adviser to the warlord Sun Chuanfang in 1923 and took part in the Tanggu Truce negotiations of 1933. Commanding the Eleventh Army in 1938, he fought at Wuhan, Nanchang and Changsha; appointed commander of the North China Area Army in July 1941, he intensified the campaigns against the Eighth Route Army’s bases known as the Three Alls policy. He was placed in charge of Ichi-Go in 1944, became commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army in November, and signed the surrender at Nanjing on 9 September 1945. Found not guilty by the Shanghai War Crimes Tribunal in January 1949, he stayed on as a military adviser to Chiang Kai-shek before returning to Japan.
Activities and affiliations
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1938–1945
Japan state institutionsCommander, North China Area Army; China Expeditionary ArmyMain
Military command
Career Timeline
- 1923Military adviser to the warlord Sun Chuanfang
- 1933Took part in the Tanggu Truce negotiations
- 1938Commander of the Eleventh Army; Battle of Wuhan
- 1941Commander of the North China Area Army; intensified the anti-base campaigns
- 1944In charge of Ichi-Go; commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army from November
- 1945Signed the surrender at Nanjing
- 1949Acquitted by the Shanghai tribunal; returned to Japan