Yamagata Aritomo Field Marshal Prince , also known as Yamagata Kyōsuke , was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army and twice Prime Minister of Japan . He is considered one of the architects of the military and political foundations of early modern Japan . Yamagata Aritomo can be seen as the father of Japanese militarism . Early career . Yamagata was born in a lower - ranked " samurai " family from Hagi , the capital of the feudal domain of Chōshū ( present - day Yamaguchi prefecture ) . He went to " Shokasonjuku " , a private school run by Yoshida Shōin , where he devoted his energies to the growing underground movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate . He was a commander in the " Kiheitai " , a paramilitary organization created on semi - western lines by the Chōshū domain . During the Boshin War , the revolution of 1867 and 1868 often called the Meiji Restoration , he was a staff officer . After the defeat of the Tokugawa , Yamagata together with Saigō Tsugumichi was selected by the leaders of the new government to go to Europe in 1869 to research European military systems . Yamagata like many Japanese was strongly influenced by the recent striking success of Prussia in transforming itself from an agricultural state to a leading modern industrial and military power . He accepted Prussian political ideas , which favored military expansion abroad and authoritarian government at home . On returning he was asked to organize a national army for Japan , and he became War Minister in 1873 . Yamagata energetically modernized the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army , and modeled it after the Prussian army . He began a system of military conscription in 1873 . Military career . As War Minister , Yamagata pushed through the foundation of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff , which was the main source of Yamagata ' s political power and that of other military officers through the end of World War I . He was Chief of the Army General Staff in 1878 – 1882 , 1884 – 85 and 1904 - 1905 . Yamagata in 1877 led the newly modernized Imperial Army against the Satsuma Rebellion led by his former comrade in revolution , Saigō Takamori of Satsuma . At the end of the war , when Saigo ' s severed head was brought to Yamagata , he ordered it washed , and held the head in his arms as he pronounced a meditation on the fallen hero . He also prompted Emperor Meiji to write the " Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors " , in 1882 . This document was considered the moral core of the Japanese army and naval forces until their dissolution in 1945 . Yamagata was awarded the rank of field marshal in 1898 . He showed his leadership on military issues as acting War Minister and Commanding General during the First Sino - Japanese War ; as the Commanding General of the Japanese First Army during the Russo - Japanese War ; and as the Chief of the General Staff Office in Tokyo . He is considered political and military ideological ancestor of the " Hokushin - ron " as he traced the first lines of a national defensive strategy against Russia after Russo - Japanese War . Political career . Yamagata was one of the group of seven political leaders , later called the " genrō " , who came to dominate the government of Japan . The word can be translated principal elders or senior statesmen . The " genrō " were a subset of the revolutionary leaders who shared common objectives and who by about 1880 had forced out or isolated the other original leaders . These seven men ( plus two who were chosen later after some of the first seven had died ) led Japan for many years , through its great transformation from an agricultural country into a modern military and industrial state . All the " genrō " served at various times as cabinet ministers , and most were at times prime minister . As a body , the " genrō " had no official status , they were simply trusted advisers to the Emperor . Yet the " genrō " made collectively the most important decisions , such as peace and war and foreign policy , and when a cabinet resigned they chose the new prime minister . In the twentieth century their power diminished because of deaths and quarrels among themselves , and the growing political power of the army and navy . But the " genrō " clung to the power of naming prime ministers up to the death of the last " genrō " Prince Saionji in 1940 . Yamagata and Itō Hirobumi were long the most prominent of the seven , and after the assassination of Itō in 1909 , Yamagata dominated the " genrō " . But Yamagata also held a large and devoted power base in the officers of the army and the militarists . He became the towering leader of Japanese conservatives . He profoundly distrusted all democratic institutions , and he devoted the later part of his life to building and defending the power , especially the political power , of the army . During his long and versatile career , Yamagata held numerous important governmental posts . In 1882 , he became president of the Board of Legislation ( " Sanjiin " ) and as Home Minister ( 1883 – 87 ) he worked vigorously to suppress political parties and repress agitation in the labor and agrarian movements . He also organized a system of local administration , based on a prefecture - county - city structure which is still in use in Japan today . In 1883 Yamagata was appointed to the post of Lord Chancellor , the highest bureaucratic position in the government system before the Meiji Constitution of 1889 . Yamagata became the third Prime Minister of Japan after the creation of the Cabinet of Japan from 24 December 1889 to 6 May 1891 . He became the first prime minister who had to share power with a partially elected Imperial Diet under the Meiji Constitution that took effect in 1890 . During his first term , the " Imperial Rescript on Education " was issued . In order to pass a budget for fiscal 1891 ( begins in April ) , he had to negotiate with a liberal majority in the House of Representatives , the elected lower house of the Diet . Yamagata became Prime Minister for a second term from 8 November 1898 to 19 October 1900 . In 1900 , while in his second term as Prime Minister , he ruled that only an active military officer could serve as War Minister or Navy Minister , a rule that gave the military control over the formation of any future cabinet . He also enacted laws preventing political party members from holding any key posts in the bureaucracy . He was President of the Privy Council from 1893 – 94 and 1905 – 22 . Attending the coronation of the Russian Czar Nicholas II on November 1 , 1894 , Yamagata made a tentative offer to Spain on buying the Philippines for 40 million pounds . In 1896 , Yamagata led a diplomatic mission to Moscow , which produced the Yamagata – Lobanov Agreement confirming Japanese and Russian rights in Korea . Yamagata was elevated to the peerage , and received the title of " koshaku " ( prince ) under the " kazoku " system in 1907 . From 1900 to 1909 , Yamagata opposed Itō Hirobumi , leader of the civilian party , and exercised influence through his protégé , Katsura Tarō . After the death of Itō Hirobumi in 1909 , Yamagata became the most influential politician in Japan and remained so until his death in 1922 , although he retired from active participation in politics after the Russo - Japanese War . However , as president of the Privy Council from 1909 to 1922 , Yamagata remained the power behind the government and dictated the selection of future Prime Ministers until his death . In 1912 Yamagata set the precedent that the army could dismiss a cabinet . A dispute with prime minister Marquis Saionji Kinmochi over the military budget became a constitutional crisis , known as the Taisho Crisis after the newly enthroned Emperor . The army minister , General Uehara Yūsaku , resigned when the cabinet would not grant him the budget he wanted . Saionji sought to replace him . Japanese law required that the ministers of the army and navy must be high - ranking generals and admirals on active duty ( not retired ) . In this instance all the eligible generals at Yamagata ' s instigation refused to serve in the Saionji cabinet , and the cabinet was compelled to resign . Personal life and hobbies . Yamagata was a talented garden designer , and today the gardens he designed are considered masterpieces of Japanese garden s . A noted example is the garden of the villa Murin - an in Kyoto . References .