Columbia courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1902-1905, 1905-04-07
0YAMA, A GENERAL
JAPAN'S GREAT field MARSHAL
IS A MILITARY GENIUS.
Weighs 800 Pounds and Is Six Feet
TaII-Has Tremendous Foresight-A
Practical Fighter-Has Been Mar
ried Twice-Second Wife Studied in
United States for Several Years.

title of "the Napoleon Of the Far
East 1t is doubtful if a greater
military genius has yet come out of
that strange country.
Oyama comes of fighting stock. be-
ing of the Stasuma clan and the de-
scendant of centuries of Samurai. Ira
dition gave him the instincts of the
soldier, and his education developed
them. The Japanese army of today is
largely of his creation.
Unlike most japanese, the Marquis
Oyama is big man. He is six feet
tall, broad shouldered, deep chested
and weighs 800 pounds. He is, in his
official relations, man of few words,
but in society most genial.
He is a man of tremendous foresight
always looking ahead and seeing
what will be necessary to do almost
as if he had prophetic vision. He Is
81 years old, and was about "a in
1868, when he took part in the war
for the restoration of the emperor.
After that war he rose steadily in mill
tary rank, and travelled great deal in
foreign countries. While he was min
lister of war he organized the Japanese
army on modern basis-organized as
it is today.
There are many great soldiers who
are splendid organizers, but not as ac
tual fighters much use. Marshal
Oyama is not one of these. He is a
fine, practical fighter, as his cam
paigns against China and Russia
show; a magnificent and daring strate-
gist and man of great personal brav-
cry. He has the valuable faculty. of
gathering about him men of high char
acter and ability, of inspiring them
and getting them to work together
without friction. Oyama knows his
officers and knows how to place them
where they can do the most effective
work.
The career of Oyama has been an
active one, both in war and in politics.
His first active service in the field was
in 1868, when he Joined his cousins,
the Counts Saigo, in leading the revo-
lutionary movement which restored the
mikado to the throne of his ancestors.
He entered that war as a captain and
at its close was made major general.
When the Franco-Pl ussian war broke
out in 1870 he was sent by the emperor
to observe it.
Soon after his return his cousin,
Count Saigo, rebelled. But Oyama
remained loyal to his emperor and
commanded a division Of the army in
the long civil war which resulted in
the death of 10000 men, including
Salgo. In 1880 he became minister of
war, and he spent the next 10 years in
perfecting his army organization. In
1890 he was a full general, Count
Yamagata being the only other man
with that high rank. He and Yama-
gaia had joint command of the armies
that went to Manchuria to fight the
Chinese, and when Yamagata was in
valided home Oyama, was left in SUI
preme command. After brief but
memorable campaign he took Port
Arthur.
The glory of this campaign was due
to the percision of the tactics, the init
mate knowledge of the enemy country
and the perfection of the organization.
Had not the powers stepped in and
called a halt the victorious Oyama
would have swept on Peking. But the
war was stopped and the powers man
aged to despoil Japan of the fruits of
her victory.
The campaign was not lost, how
ever, for the knowledge gained in it
has proved invaluable to the generals
who have directed the war against
Russia. Besides giving them a per-
sonal knowledge of the country, it
proved to them that the Japanese were
as good in the field as on paper, and it
also gave them the lessons in commits
sariat that can be learned only by &C.
tual experience in warfare.
Oyama's reward for this campaign
was the coronet of marquis and the
baton Of field marshal.
What his next reward will be it is
hard to say. He has risen now to the
very pinnacle of military rank.
If Marshal Oyama's military chra.
acter is interesting, the domestic side
of his disposition is thoroughly delihgt-
full. Not only is he fighter, but he is
great patron of the fine arts and one
of the best amateur art experts in
Japan. His house, in a suburb of
Toxic, is externally like beautiful
American home, with splendid gar
den laid out in thoroughly modern
style.
| His Wife.
Scarcely less interesting to American
eyes than the marshal is his wife, the
girl who was known at Vassar as SUITE
matsu Yamakana. During the 10
years CHE spent in this country she