Baron was a general in the early Imperial Japanese Army.Kowner, Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War, p. 390.
Biography Tsuchiya was born as the fourth son to a samurai family named Watari of the Okazaki Domain (present day Aichi prefecture), and was adopted into the Tsuchiya family as a child. He was sent by the domain to the predecessor of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy when it was still located in Osaka and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army in 1870. He participated in the suppression of the Saga Rebellion and the Satsuma Rebellion.
During the First Sino-Japanese War, Tsuchiya served on the staff of the Imperial General Headquarters. After the war, he commanded the IJA 27th Infantry Brigade, the IJA 1st Taiwan Reserve Combined Brigade and the 1st Guards Brigade. In 1902, he was promoted to lieutenant general.
After the start of the Russo-Japanese War, Tsuchiya was given command of the IJA 11th Infantry Division under General Nogi Maresuke’s Japanese Third Army at the Siege of Port Arthur. His forces took heavy casualties, and Tsuchiya himself was wounded by a gunshot to the head while leading his troops in combat. After a period back in Japan to recover, he returned to Manchuria as commander of the newly formed IJA 14th Infantry Division. In September 1907, Tsuchiya was ennobled with the title of baron (danshaku) under the kazoku peerage system.『官報』第7272号「授爵敍任及辞令」September 13, 1907 In December 1908, Tsuchiya became commander of the IJA 4th Infantry Division. On 28 August 1910, he was promoted to general, and entered the reserves on the same day. He retired on 1 April 1915, and died after illness in November 1920. He was posthumously promoted to the honorific title of Junior Second Court Rank.『官報』第2491号「叙任及辞令」November 19, 1920
His son, Tsuchiya Mitsukane was a vice admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War, and was subsequently a member of the House of Peers (Japan).
Decorations 1893 – Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class 『官報』第3127号「叙任及辞令」November 30, 1893 1895 – Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class 『官報』第3698号「叙任及辞令」October 19, 1895 1895 – Order of the Golden Kite, 4th class 1902 - Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd class 『官報』第5824号「叙任及辞令」December 1, 1902 1906 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun 『官報』号外「叙任及辞令」December 30, 1906 1906 – Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class
Foreign 1896 – Russia - Order of Saint Stanislaus, 2nd class『官報』』第4005号「叙任及辞令」November 2, 1896
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