The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-03-22
OYAllNA, MILITARY WONDER,
SOLDIER SINCE CHILDHOOD
Forced BY Noble Parents to Go Barefoot iu Su0y
-Nlarchi0neSS Oyantn Graduate
of V0SS0r.

Field Marshal Oyama, the Wellington
of Japan, 'the Emperor 8 right hand,'
now famed anew for his Napoleonic
achievements in Manchuria, excites in
the American mind more than admira-
tion. ~.
For this giant of war and letters,
aptly termed "the ugliest and most
charming man in the empire" Ameri-
cans feel almost a kiship when they re-
member that the little woman who
presides over his home in Toxic is a
graduate Of Vassar college, that she is
convert to Christianity, and that in
the pictures, rugss-even the tea-are
western, the whole atmosphere Ameri-
can. 49,.
To comprehend the fame to which
Oyama has attained in his sixty-first
year we must go back to beginnings.
This takes us to the mountains inhab-
tied by the Kagoshilma, clan, fighting
brings to view a 4-year-old boy trudg-
ing barefoot thru the snow
We learn that this baby Jap, thinly
clad and confessedly hungry, is a sa,
mural (nobleman) by birth, and that
his Spartan.li like father is well pos
sessed Of this world 9 goods. We won
privations Of winter and hunger until
we are informed that his parents are
merely making a soldier of him. He is
going thru the toughening process. He
is being galvanized, tanned, warplated.
Young Oyama's days were spent in
ercise; his nights in. studying the bu-
shido, or old Japanese code Of honor
which taught the samurai that life was
nothing compared with the glory of his
daimio OF leader. This is an illustra-
ton Of the training Of one Of the Jap.
anese fighters. which may just as we'll
refer, to the bulk of the men oompos-
ing the Japanese army as to the sturdy
marvellous, physical condition which is
I so noticeable in the present war.
After the period Of the civil war in
the sixties, when the new regime was
firmly established, the young Oyama
was sent to France as military attache
to study the organization Of modern
armies, and had the opportunity Of OBJ
serving modern warfare during the
Franco-German conflict of 1870.
8 He remained abroad three years, and
on his return home was appointed a
general in the imperial army. After
the Satsuma rebellion was crushed, dur.
ing the ensuing ten years Of reconstruc.
to- sdS;tablshing "a. and Psrfeeting the
whole, country, General Oyama was his
right-hand man. Without him the task
could hardly have been ACCOMPLISHED.
He never took advantage Of his posi-.
ton to obtain political power. In the
army he has been steadily promoted, and
ne aaas - alternately with Yamagata, occu,
from 18859O and from i891-92-he has
been minister of war. During the war
with China he was ordered to Man.
churia as commandment chief of the sec
ond army.
In 1855, at the end Of the war, the
title Of Marquis was conferred on him
and in 1898 he was made marshal
and the following year succeeded
Prince Komatsu as chief of the general
staff. .
Marshal Oyama is almost the only one
left Of the older generals, as Marshal
Yamagata 8 health has not permitted
Of his taking an active part in the pres
ent campaign.
Educated in France and serving as an
attache n the war against Germany
Oyama returned home with new ideas
Of making soldiers and making war. He
forced these into the Japanese military
system, welded them firmly to the native
Japanese originality, patriotism and for
titude, the result being the fighting en-
CINE that cowed China and that nov
is humiliating one Of the greatest anc
proudest Of the worlds civilized ma
tions.
Some one has described Oyama al
"Paul Kruger, with the goat beart
gone.o All who have attempted to por
tray his personality agree that it Il
grotesquely uncouth to the eye, but al
together pleasing otherwise.
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