Oyama Iwao

Equestrian statue of Ôyama Iwao at Kitanomaru Park, Tokyo Imperial Palace

• Japanese: 大山巌 (Ooyama Iwao)

Ôyama Iwao was a prominent military commander and government official of the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods.

He fought for Satsuma han in the Satsuma-England War of 1863 and in the Boshin War of 1868. In 1877, however, he stood opposed to his cousin Saigô Takamori, and commanded Imperial Japanese Army troops in suppressing the Satsuma Rebellion.

Ôyama later served as Minister of the Army, and was active in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars. He also later served as Superintendent General, Minister of Education, and Minister of the Interior.

His family was closely connected to that of Saigô Takamori; Iwao's older brother Ôyama Seimi married Takamori's sister Yasu, and his younger brother Ôyama Seinosuke married Takamori's daughter Ôyama Kikuko.

References

• Masaji Marumoto, "Vignette of Early Hawaii-Japan Relations: Highlights of King Kalakaua's Sojourn in Japan on His Trip around the World as Recorded in His Personal Diary", Hawaiian Journal of History 10 (1976), 57.
• "The English fleet appears on Kagoshima Bay," plaque in Kagoshima.[2]