Oka Ichinosuke

Oka was born in Hagi in Chōshū domain (present day Yamaguchi Prefecture as the second son of a samurai retainer of the Mori clan. He graduated from the Osaka Foreign Languages School followed by the 4th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1881, and from the 4th class of the Army Staff College in 1888.

Oka served as Vice Commander of the IJA 8th Infantry Brigade, and subsequently as squad leader in the IJA 20th Infantry Regiment. During the First Sino-Japanese War, he was on the staff of the IJA 1st Division, which was engaged in the brunt of combat operations during that conflict.

After the war, Oka served in various administrative and staff positions within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. At the time of the Russo-Japanese War, he was the vice chief of the Military Affairs Department. Oka was promoted to major general in 1905. He subsequently commanded the IJA 27th Infantry Brigade and the IJA 29th Infantry Brigade before being promoted to lieutenant general in February 1912, and commander of the IJA 3rd Division in 1913.

In April 1914, Oka became Minister of War under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu. During his tenure, he was steadfastly uncompromising in his demands for an increased Army budget to raise two new infantry divisions for Korea, and strongly rejected arguments by Finance Minister Wakatsuki Reijiro that unbridled military expenditures was bankrupting the nation. On then other hand, Oka unexpectedly opposed his mentor Yamagata Aritomo in many political issues, siding with Okuma Shigenobu and Kato Takaaki against the Rikken Seiyūkai.{{cite book |last1=Dickenson |first1=Frederick |title=War and National Reinvention: Japan in the Great War, 1914-1919 |date=2001 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |isbn=0674005074 |page=103}}

He resigned in March 1916 due to ill health, and was ennobled with the title of baron (danshaku) under the kazoku peerage system just before his death in July of the same year.

• 1895 – File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 6Class BAR.svg Order of the Rising Sun, 6th class 『官報』第3671号「叙任及辞令」September 21, 1895
• 1895 – File:JPN Kinshi-kunsho 4Class BAR.svg Order of the Golden Kite, 4th class 『官報』第3671号「叙任及辞令」September 21, 1895
• 1900 – File:JPN Zuiho-sho (WW2) 5Class BAR.svg Order of the Sacred Treasure, 5th class 『官報』第5072号「叙任及辞令」June 1, 1900
• 1906 – File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 2Class BAR.svg Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class 『官報』号外「叙任及辞令」December 30, 1906
• 1906 – File:JPN Kinshi-kunsho 3Class BAR.svg Order of the Golden Kite, 3rd class 『官報』号外「叙任及辞令」December 30, 1906
• 1914 – File:JPN Zuiho-sho (WW2) 1Class BAR.svg Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure 『官報』第539号「叙任及辞令」May 18, 1914
• 1916 – File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun『官報』第1310号・付録「辞令」」December 13, 1916

• {{cite book | last = Harries | first = Meirion | year = 1994 | title = Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army | publisher = Random House | isbn = 0-679-75303-6}}
• {{cite book| last = Fukagawa | first = Hideki | year = 1981 | title = (陸海軍将官人事総覧 (陸軍篇)) Army and Navy General Personnel Directory (Army) | publisher = Fuyo Shobo | location = Tokyo | isbn = 4829500026}}
• {{cite book | last = Dupuy | first = Trevor N. | year = 1992 | title = Encyclopedia of Military Biography | publisher = I B Tauris & Co Ltd | isbn = 1-85043-569-3 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmi0000dupu }}
• {{cite book | last = Hata | first = Ikuhiko | year = 2005 | title = (日本陸海軍総合事典) Japanese Army and Navy General Encyclopedia| publisher = St. Martin's Press | location = Tokyo| isbn = 4130301357}}

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Category:1860 births

Category:1916 deaths

Category:People from Chōshū Domain

Category:Military personnel from Yamaguchi Prefecture

Category:Japanese generals

Category:Kazoku

Category:Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War

Category:Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War

Category:Japanese people of World War I

Category:Ministers of the Imperial Japanese Army

Category:Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun

Category:Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class

Category:Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite