The 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 IJN and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), the ministries were in charge of Gunsei (軍政, military administration), and Navy General Staff and Army General Staff Office 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 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".Spector 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 the Imperial 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 Naval 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. Portrait Name Term of Office Cabinet 1 Saigō Jūdō西郷 従道 22 December1885 17 May1890 1st Itō Kuroda 1st Yamagata 2 Kabayama Sukenori樺山 資紀 17 May1890 8 August1892 1st Matsukata 3 Nire Kagenori仁礼 景範 8 August1892 11 March1893 2nd Itō 4 Saigō Jūdō西郷 従道 11 March1893 8 November1898 2nd Matsukata 3rd Itō 1st Ōkuma 5 Yamamoto Gonnohyōe山本 權兵衞 8 November1898 7 January1906 2nd Yamagata 4th Itō 1st Katsura 6 Saitō Makoto斎藤 実 7 January1906 16 April1914 1st Saionji 2nd Katsura 2nd Saionji 3rd Katsura 1st Yamamoto 7 Yashiro Rokurō八代 六郎 16 April1914 10 August1915 2nd Ōkuma 8 Katō Tomosaburō加藤 友三郎 10 August1915 15 May1923 Terauchi Hara Takahashi Katō 9 Takarabe Takeshi財部 彪 15 May1923 7 January1924 2nd Yamamoto 10 Murakami Kakuichi村上 格一 7 January1924 11 June1924 Kiyoura 11 Takarabe Takeshi財部 彪 11 June1924 20 April1927 Katō 1st Wakatsuki 12 Keisuke Okada岡田 啓介 20 April1927 2 July1929 1st Tanaka 13 Takarabe Takeshi財部 彪 2 July1929 3 October1930 Hamaguchi 14 Kiyokazu Abo安保 清種 3 October1930 13 December1931 2nd Wakatsuki 15 Mineo Ōsumi大角 岑生 13 December1931 26 May1932 Inukai 16 Keisuke Okada岡田 啓介 26 May1932 9 January1933 Saitō 17 Mineo Ōsumi大角 岑生 9 January1933 9 March1936 Okada 18 Osami Nagano永野 修身 9 March1936 2 February1937 Hirota 19 Mitsumasa Yonai米内 光政 2 February1937 30 August1939 Hayashi 1st Konoe 1st Hiranuma 20 Zengo Yoshida吉田 善吾 30 August1939 5 September1940 Abe Yonai 2nd Konoe 21 Koshirō Oikawa及川 古志郎 5 September1940 18 October1941 3rd Konoe 22 Shigetarō Shimada嶋田 繁太郎 18 October1941 17 July1944 Tojo 23 Naokuni Nomura野村 直邦 17 July1944 22 July1944 24 Mitsumasa Yonai米内 光政 22 July1944 1 December1945 Koiso Suzuki Higashikuni Shidehara

Timeline

See also Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff

References

Notes

Books

External links "Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East". Adam Matthew Publications.