佐賀の乱
Tsuchiya was born as the fourth son to a samurai family named Watari of the Okazaki Domain (present day Aichi prefecture), and was adopted into the Tsuchiya family as a child. He was sent by the domain to the predecessor of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy when it was still located in Osaka and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army in 1870. He participated in the suppression of the Saga Rebellion and the Satsuma Rebellion.