*anese Prime Minister for 1922–23In this *anese name, the surname is Katō.

Marshal-Admiral Viscount Katō Tomosaburō (加藤 友三郎, 22 February 1861 – 24 August 1923) was a career officer in the Imperial *anese Navy, cabinet minister, and Prime Minister of *an from 1922 to 1923.

Contents

• 1 Biography
  • 1.1 Naval career
  • 1.2 As Prime Minister
• 2 Honors
• 3 References
  • 3.1 Books
• 4 External links
• 5 Notes

Biography

Katō Tomosaburō wears a formal uniform

Born in Hiroshima, Aki Province (modern Hiroshima Prefecture) to a samurai family, Katō enrolled in the 7th cl* Imperial *anese Naval Academy and graduated second out of a cl* of 30 cadets. He specialized in both naval artillery and in navigation.

Naval career

From left to right, Kijūrō Shidehara, Katō and Iesato Tokugawa on November 3, 1921, to attend the Washington Naval Conference.

After his commissioning as lieutenant, Katō served on the corvette Tsukuba in 1887, followed by the cruiser Takachiho. During the First Sino-*anese War, he served in a combat position as gunnery officer on the cruiser Yoshino. After the end of the war, he served in numerous staff positions before promotion to commander. He was executive officer on the battleship Yashima, and captain of the Tsukushi. He was promoted to rear admiral on 1 September 1904.

During the Russo-*anese War, Katō served as chief of staff to Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō on the battleship Mikasa, *isting in *an's victory at the Battle of Tsushima. During this time, he suffered from a very weak stomach, and was vomiting as he issued orders throughout the battle, despite having taken large amounts of medication.

Katō became Vice Minister of the Navy in 1906, and was promoted to vice admiral on 28 August 1908. In 1909, he was appointed commander of the Kure Naval District, and in 1913 became Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet.

Katō became Minister of the Navy in August 1915, days before his promotion to full admiral on 28 August 1915. He served in this post in the cabinets of Ō*a Shigenobu, Terauchi Masatake, Hara Takashi, and Takahashi Korekiyo. Under Hara and Takahashi, Katō was *an's chief commissioner plenipotentiary to the Washington Naval Conference, and worked with Amb*ador Shidehara Kijurō in the negotiations that led to the Five-Power Treaty.

As Prime Minister

Following his return to *an, Katō was appointed 21st Prime Minister of *an in recognition of his performance at the Washington Naval Conference. His cabinet consisted mainly of bureaucrats and members of the House of Peers, which proved unpopular with the Imperial *anese Army. During his tenure as prime minister, Katō implemented the provisions of the Washington Naval Agreement, withdrew *anese forces from Shantung in China and ended *anese participation in the Siberian Intervention. Katō suc*bed to late-stage colon cancer and died a little over a year into his term.

Katō was given the honorary rank of Marshal Admiral the day before his death, and posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum and his *le raised to shishaku (viscount).

His death came only a week before the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923, and therefore *an was without a prime minister during that disaster.

Katō's grave is at Aoyama Cemetery, Tokyo.

Honors

From the corresponding article in the *anese Wikipedia

• Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd cl* (1 April 1906; Fifth Cl*: 27 September 1895)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (28 November 1913; Second Cl*: 30 November 1905; Fifth Cl*: 9 May 1899; Sixth Cl*: 24 November 1894)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (14 July 1916; Second Cl*: 1 April 1906; Sixth Cl*: 27 September 1895)
• Baron (7 September 1920)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers (7 September 1920)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (24 August 1923; posthumous)
• Viscount (24 August 1923; posthumous)

References

Books

• Agawa, Hiroyuki (2000). The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial. Kodansha International. ISBN:978-4-7700-2539-5.
• Dupuy, Trevor N. (1992). Encyclopedia of Military Biography. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN:978-1-85043-569-3.

External links

• Nishida, Hiroshi. "Kato Tomosaburo". Imperial *anese Navy. Archived from the original on 2013-09-04. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
• Newspaper clippings about Katō Tomosaburō in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Notes

State of *an, 1947–presentItalics denote acting prime ministers