Itoh Sukeyuki

Infobox Military Person
name=Count Itoh Sukeyuki
lived= 20 May 1843 - 16 January 1914 [Nishida, Imperial Japanese Navy]
placeofbirth=Kagoshima, Satsuma domain, Japan
placeofdeath=Tokyo, Japan


caption=Japanese Admiral Count Itoh Sukeyuki
nickname=
allegiance=Empire of Japan
branch=navy|Empire of Japan
serviceyears=1871 -1907
rank=Fleet Admiral
commands ="Daiichi Teibo", "Kasuga", "Azuma", "Nisshin", "Ryūjō", "Hiei", "Fusō"
"Naniwa"
Combined Fleet
Yokosuka Naval District
Chief of IJN General Staff
unit=
battles=Anglo-Satsuma War
Boshin War
First Sino-Japanese War
oBattle of the Yellow Sea
oBattle of Weihaiwei Russo-Japanese War
awards= Order of the Golden Kite (1st class) Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum
family=
laterwork=
Fleet Admiral Count nihongo|Sukeyuki Itoh|伊東祐亨|Itoh Sukeyuki; also known as Itoh Yukō (20 May 1843 – 16 January 1914) was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Meiji-period.

Biography

Born in what is now part of Kagoshima city as the son of a "samurai" of the Satsuma domain, Itoh studied naval engineering and gunnery and participated in the Anglo-Satsuma War as a member of the Satsuma domain's navy. Before the Boshin War, Itoh had already relocated to Edo and had placed his naval skills at the service of the forces striving to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate.

After the Meiji Restoration, Itoh was commissioned as a lieutenant and served on the corvette "Nisshin ". Promoted to captain in 1882, he served on many warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy in its pioneer days. On 20 May 1893, he became commander-in-chief of the Readiness Fleet.

On 15 June 1886, he was promoted to rear admiral, and then to vice admiral on 12 December 1892. 　

During the First Sino-Japanese War, he became the first Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet and won several naval battles against the Chinese Empire's Beiyang Fleet led by Admiral Ding Ruchang.

On 11 May 1895, Itoh became Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff. In 1898, and was ennobled with the title of "shishaku" (viscount) on 5 August 1898 under the kazoku peerage system. He was promoted to full admiral on 28 September 1898. During the Russo-Japanese War he continued to serve as head of the Navy General Staff . After the war, he became fleet admiral on 31 January 1905, and his title of nobility was raised to that of "hakushaku" (count) in 1907. At the same time, he was awarded the Order of the Golden Kite (1st class) and the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum.

Itoh professed to have absolutely no interest in politics whatsoever, but was unofficially regarded as one of the "genrō" by his contemporaries.

Itoh died in 1914. His grave is at the temple of Kaian-ji in Shinagawa, Tokyo.

References

Books

*cite book
last = Dupuy
first = Trevor N
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 1992
title = Encyclopedia of Military Biography
publisher = I B Tauris & Co Ltd
location =
id = 1-85043-569-3
*cite book
last = Paine
first = S.C.M
authorlink =
year = 2002
chapter =
title = The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy
publisher = Cambridge University Press
location = London
id = ISBN 0-521-81714-5

External links

*cite web
last = Nishida
first = Hiroshi
coauthors =
year =
url = http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/px00.htm#f001
title = Itoh Sukeyuki
work = Imperial Japanese Navy
accessdate = 2006-08-14

Notes