Ministry of the Navy (Japan)

Ministry of the Navy
海軍省; Kaigun-shō
	; Navy Ministry building, Tokyo, c. 1890
Agency overview
Formed	April 1872
Preceding agency	Ministry of War;
Dissolved	November 1945
Superseding agency	Ministry of Defense;
Jurisdiction	Imperial Japanese Navy

The Ministry of the Navy (海軍省, Kaigun-shō) was a cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). It existed from 1872 to 1945.

In the IJA and IJN, the ministries were in charge of Gunsei (軍政, military administration), and Army General Staff Office and Navy General Staff were in charge of Gunrei (軍令, military command). The two were distinguished.

History

The Navy Ministry was created in April 1872, along with the Army Ministry, to replace the Ministry of War (兵部省, Hyōbushō) of the early Meiji government.

Initially, the Navy Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of the Imperial Japanese Navy. However, with the creation of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff in May 1893, it was left with only administrative functions.

"The ministry was responsible for the naval budget, ship construction, weapons procurement, personnel, relations with the Diet and the cabinet and broad matters of naval policy. The General Staff directed the operations of the fleet and the preparation of war plans".^[1] The post of Navy Minister was politically powerful. Although a member of the Cabinet after the establishment of the cabinet system of government in 1885, the Navy Minister was answerable directly to the Emperor (the commander-in-chief of all Japanese armed forces under the Meiji Constitution) and not the Prime Minister.

Up until the 1920s, the Navy Ministry held the upper hand over the Navy General Staff in terms of political influence. However, the officers of the Navy General Staff found an opportunity at the Washington Naval Conference in 1921–22 to improve their situation. At this meeting, the United States and Britain wanted to establish a worldwide naval ratio, asking the Japanese to limit themselves to a smaller navy than the Western powers. The Naval Ministry was willing to agree to this, seeking to maintain the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, but the Navy General Staff refused. The Imperial Japanese Navy became divided into mutually hostile Fleet Faction and Treaty Faction political cliques. Ultimately, the treaty was signed by Japan, but terminated in 1934. Through the 1930s, with increasing Japanese militarism, the Fleet Faction gradually gained ascendancy over the Treaty Faction and came to dominate the Navy General Staff, which pushed through the attack on Pearl Harbor against the resistance of the Navy Ministry.

After 1937, both the Navy Minister and the Chief of the Navy General Staff were members of the Imperial General Headquarters.

With the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II, the Navy Ministry was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Navy by the American occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived in the post-war Constitution of Japan.

Organization

Internally operating divisions

Military Affairs Bureau
Mobilization Bureau
Technical Bureau
Personnel Bureau
Training Bureau
Medical Bureau
Shipyard Bureau
Naval Construction Bureau
Legal Bureau
Administrative/Accounting Bureau

Externally operating divisions

Navy Aviation Bureau
Navy Academy
Naval War College
Naval Accounting School
Navy Medical School
Naval Engineering School
Submarine Division
Canals and Waterways Division
Naval Technical Department
Naval Tribunal
Tokyo Naval Tribunal
Chemical Warfare Division
Radio and Radar Division
Supply and Transport Bureau
Naval Construction Division
Naval Maintenance & Repair Division
Special Attack Weapons Division
Emergency Reaction Division
Naval Aviation Training Division
Naval Intelligence Division

Ministers of the Navy of Japan

By law, Navy Ministers had to be appointed from active duty admirals or vice-admirals.

Naval Lords under the Ministry of War

Katsu Kaishū
Kawamura Sumiyoshi
Enomoto Takeaki (28 February 1880 – 7 April 1881)
Nakamuta Kuranosuke
Kabayama Sukenori

Naval Ministers under the Meiji Constitution

No.	Name	Term of Office		Cabinet
1	Saigō Jūdō 西郷従道	22 December 1885	17 May 1890	1st Itō
				Kuroda
				1st Yamagata
2	Kabayama Sukenori 樺山資紀	17 May 1890	8 August 1892	1st Yamagata
2	Kabayama Sukenori 樺山資紀	17 May 1890	8 August 1892	1st Matsukata
3	Nire Kagenori 仁礼景範	8 August 1892	11 March 1893	2nd Itō
4	Saigō Jūdō 西郷従道	11 March 1893	8 November 1898	2nd Itō
				2nd Matsukata
				3rd Itō
				1st Ōkuma
5	Yamamoto Gonnohyōe 山本權兵衞	8 November 1898	7 January 1906	2nd Yamagata
				4th Itō
				1st Katsura
6	Saitō Makoto 斎藤実	7 January 1906	16 April 1914	1st Saionji
				2nd Katsura
				2nd Saionji
				3rd Katsura
				1st Yamamoto
7	Yashiro Rokurō 八代六郎	16 April 1914	10 August 1915	2nd Ōkuma
8	Katō Tomosaburō 加藤友三郎	10 August 1915	15 May 1923	2nd Ōkuma
				Terauchi
				Hara
				Takahashi
				Katō
9	Takarabe Takeshi 財部彪	15 May 1923	7 January 1924	Katō
9	Takarabe Takeshi 財部彪	15 May 1923	7 January 1924	2nd Yamamoto
10	Murakami Kakuichi 村上格一	7 January 1924	11 June 1924	Kiyoura
11	Takarabe Takeshi 財部彪	11 June 1924	20 April 1927	Katō
11	Takarabe Takeshi 財部彪	11 June 1924	20 April 1927	1st Wakatsuki
12	Keisuke Okada 岡田啓介	20 April 1927	2 July 1929	1st Tanaka
13	Takarabe Takeshi 財部彪	2 July 1929	3 October 1930	Hamaguchi
14	Kiyokazu Abo 安保清種	3 October 1930	13 December 1931	Hamaguchi
14	Kiyokazu Abo 安保清種	3 October 1930	13 December 1931	2nd Wakatsuki
15	Mineo Ōsumi 大角岑生	13 December 1931	9 March 1936	Inukai
				Saitō
				Saitō
				Okada
16	Osami Nagano 永野修身	9 March 1936	2 February 1937	Hirota
17	Mitsumasa Yonai 米内光政	2 February 1937	30 August 1939	Hayashi
				1st Konoe
				1st Hiranuma
18	Zengo Yoshida 吉田善吾	30 August 1939	5 September 1940	Abe
				Yonai
				2nd Konoe
19	Koshirō Oikawa 及川古志郎	5 September 1940	18 October 1941	2nd Konoe
19	Koshirō Oikawa 及川古志郎	5 September 1940	18 October 1941	3rd Konoe
20	Shigetarō Shimada 嶋田繁太郎	18 October 1941	17 July 1944	Tojo
21	Naokuni Nomura 野村直邦	17 July 1944	22 July 1944	Tojo
22	Mitsumasa Yonai 米内光政	22 July 1944	1 December 1945	Koiso
				Suzuki
				Higashikuni
				Shidehara

References

Notes

^ Spector

Books

Asada, Sadao (2006). From Mahan to Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-042-8.
Schencking, J. Charles (2005). Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868–1922. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4977-9.
Spector, Ronald (1985). Eagle Against the Sun. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-394-74101-3.