Kazushige Ugaki

Kazushige Ugaki (宇垣 一成 Ugaki Kazushige; August 21 1868, Okayama prefecture, Japan - 30 April, 1956, Tokyo) was a Japanese general. In 1927 he was Governor-General of Korea.

He graduated from the Military Academy, 1891. General, 1925. War Minister four times. Governor-General of Korea. Premier-designate after fall of Hirota Cabinet, February 1937, but could not form a Cabinet due to difficulties with Army. Foreign Minister (first Konoye Cabinet), May 1938; resigned, September 1938.

After the "February 26 Incident" of 1936 (the services obtained a restoration of the requirement that their Ministers be selected only from active duty officer rosters (May 1936),the famous case of Kazushige Ugaki (who was a retired full general in his own right), the Premier-designate proved to be persona non grata to the Army, which refused to provide him with a Minister of War. As a consequence, Ugaki-although he had received the Impel Command-nevertheless could not form his Cabinet (February 1937). The active-status provision was to result in the fall of the Cabinets of Hirota (Premier-designate Ugaki's predecessor), Konoye (twice),and Hiranuma.

Gen.Kazushige Ugaki (who was continuously Minister of War between January 1924 and April 1927, under four Premiers) feared that the lion's share of the national defense budget would go to the Navy if the United States were judged to be the "Hypothetical National Enemy No. 1" of the Japanese armed forces. In Ugaki's opinion, Japan required an Army of 50 divisions.

Nevertheless, despite strenuous opposition on the part of the Army, the Kato government embarked upon a policy of fiscal retrenchment (as of May 1, 1925). Ugaki had to cut the ground strength by four divisions (the 13th, 15th, 17th, and 18th). This involved the release of some 2,000 commissioned officers of the Regular Army, as well as the shortening of the period of conscript service.

He led the Toseiha (Control Group) faction, along with Gen Sugiyama, Koiso Kuniaki, Yoshijiro Umezu, Tetsuzan Nagata and Hideki Tojo, attempting to represent the more conservative and moderate Army officers. It was the politically moderate faction, as against the radical group Kodaha (Imperial Benevolent Rule or Action Group), led by Sadao Araki. Some officers under General Ugaki revitalized the Toseiha group , to oppose them; they looked to Hitler's Germany as the inspiration for the kind of controlled state they sought. The ideological roots of both groups were in the Double Leaf Society, an older think-tank in 1920s period based on ultranationalism and the fanatical side of samurai tradition.

The control faction scored a victory in January 1934 when General Araki was forced to step down, after the excesses of the Kwantung Army, and his replacement was one of their own, General Senjuro Hayashi. The struggle between the two groups (Toseiha and Kodaha) went on quietly throughout the government; and the war in North China would continue apace until February of 1936.

Later the factions united in the Kodoha (Imperial Way) right-wing nationalist party.

Western observers of General Ugaki and other similar cases in period,have seen in the armed services'active-duty stipulation for their Ministers a staggering blow to the evolution of parliamentary government and, unquestionably, the decisive factor in the military's achievement of domestic supremacy.

Periods in Office:	1927 1931 to 1942
Predeced By:	Viscount Saito Makoto Viscount Saito Makoto
Succeeded By:	General Hanzo Yamanashi General Jiro Minami
Birth:	June 1868
Death:	April 1956

Reference

• Republic of Korea