Yamanashi Hanzō

Yamanashi Hanzō (山梨 半造) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Minister of War and Governor-General of Korea from 1927 to 1929.

Biography
A native of Osumi District in Sagami Province (part of present-day Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Yamanashi graduated from the 8th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1886 and from the 8th class of the Army Staff College in 1892. He was assigned to the IJA 4th Infantry Brigade and served in combat during the First Sino-Japanese War with the IJA 2nd Army.

After the war, he served in a number of administrative and staff positions, before being posted to Germany as a military attaché from 1898 to 1902.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, he was Vice Chief of Staff of the IJA 2nd Army and subsequently Chief of Staff of the IJA 3rd Division. He returned to Europe immediately after the end of the war as military attaché to Austria-Hungary from the end of 1905 to 1907, and again to Germany from in 1907.

Yamanashi was promoted to major general in 1911, and assigned command of the IJA 30th Infantry Brigade. He was transferred to the IJA 1st Infantry Brigade the following year. After serving in a number of administrative positions within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, he was again given a field command during World War I, commanding the IJA 18th Division at the Battle of Tsingtao. In 1916, Yamanashi was promoted to lieutenant general and in 1921 he was promoted to full general.

From 1921-1923, Yamanashi served as Minister of War under the cabinets of Prime Ministers Hara, Takahashi and Katō Tomosaburō. During the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake, Yamanashi was appointed martial law commander of the Tokyo region, until the post was abolished in November 1923, but continued to be head of the Tokyo regional police forces through August 1924.

Yamanashi retired from active military service in 1927. From 1927-1929, Yamanashi served as Japanese Governor-General of Korea. He was one of the most unpopular men to hold that post, as his tenure was marked by a number of prominent corruption scandals. Although Yamanashi was acquitted, a number of his close associated were convicted, and he retired from public life at the end of 1929. Yamanashi died of natural causes at his home in Kamakura, Kanagawa in 1944 at the age of 80.