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He led Imperial military forces as early as the [[Boshin War]] ([[1868]]), immediately following the fall of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. He was appointed Vice Minister of Military Affairs within the year, and proposed the establishment of a system of [[military conscription]].<ref>Norman, E.H. Soldier and Peasant in Japan: The Origins of Conscription. New York: Institute for Pacific Relations, 1945. pp41-42, 49.; David Lu, ''Japan: A Documentary History'', ME Sharpe (1997), 314.</ref>

He led Imperial military forces as early as the [[Boshin War]] ([[1868]]), immediately following the fall of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. He was appointed Vice Minister of Military Affairs within the year, and proposed the establishment of a system of [[military conscription]].<ref>Norman, E.H. Soldier and Peasant in Japan: The Origins of Conscription. New York: Institute for Pacific Relations, 1945. pp41-42, 49.; David Lu, ''Japan: A Documentary History'', ME Sharpe (1997), 314.</ref>

A statue of Ômura erected in 1893 which today stands at Yasukuni is considered the first Western-style bronze statue to be erected in public in Japan.<ref>Suzuki Eka, "Building Statues of Japanese Governors: Monumental Bronze Sculptures and Colonial Cooperation in Taiwan under Japanese Rule," presentation at 2013 UCSB International Conference on Taiwan Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, 7 Dec 2013.</ref> It is thus considered to also mark the beginning of a new [[Meiji period]] / modern phenomenon of designating national heroes and celebrating them with public statuary.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', UC Press (1998), 17.</ref>

A statue of Ômura erected in 1893 which today stands at Yasukuni is considered the first Western-style bronze statue to be erected in public in Japan.<ref>Suzuki Eka, "Building Statues of Japanese Governors: Monumental Bronze Sculptures and Colonial Cooperation in Taiwan under Japanese Rule," presentation at 2013 UCSB International Conference on Taiwan Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, 7 Dec 2013.</ref> It was actually preceded by a massive bronze statue of [[Yamato Takeru]] erected in [[Kenrokuen]] in [[Kanazawa]] in [[1877]]; however, the statue of Ômura was the first erected in Tokyo, and the first to depict a more contemporary figure more directly associated with the modern state. It is thus considered to also mark the beginning of a new [[Meiji period]] / modern phenomenon of designating national heroes and celebrating them with public statuary.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', UC Press (1998), 17.</ref>

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