French Military Mission to Japan (1867)
Encyclopedia
Shibata Takenaka
was an emissary for Japan who visited France in 1865 to help prepare for the construction of the Yokosuka arsenal with French support.On behalf of the Shogunate, Shibata requested both the United Kingdom and France to send a military mission for training in Western warfare...
(1823–1877).
Shibata was already negotiating the final details of the French support for the construction of the Yokosuka arsenal, and had additionally requested both the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to send a military mission for training in Western warfare. The UK apparently denied support to Japan, but the French foreign minister Drouyn de Lhuys (1865–1881) transmitted the agreement of the French government.
The mission consisted of 17 members, under the authority of the Minister of War General Jacques Louis Randon
Jacques Louis Randon
Jacques Louis César Alexandre Randon, 1st Count Randon was a French military and political leader, also Marshal of France and governor of Algeria.-Early life:...
, covering a wide range of expertise: four officers (representing infantry, artillery and cavalry), ten non-commissioned officers and two soldiers. The mission would be headed by staff captain Charles Sulpice Jules Chanoine, at that time an attaché to the military staff of Paris. The members were:
Image:BrunetAndTeam.jpg|thumb|left|The French military advisers and their Japanese allies in Hokkaido - use a cursor to investigate
poly 0 350 18 341 48 315 47 304 36 305 22 283 22 246 36 220 65 210 69 194 62 171 66 136 94 132 109 152 104 201 140 219 150 231 156 285 145 369 118 391 68 391 54 433 49 462 10 457 Hosoya Yasutaro
poly 224 555 152 405 172 353 186 294 184 237 216 224 219 202 211 165 229 146 250 146 267 156 271 168 284 171 272 182 273 216 304 224 323 289 323 349 333 388 339 431 326 450 339 529 306 552 Captain Jules Brunet
Jules Brunet
Jules Brunet was a French officer who played an active role in Mexico and Japan, and later became a General and Chief of Staff of the French Minister of War in 1898...
poly 324 560 355 524 348 388 337 375 334 343 342 299 369 265 393 230 410 224 404 202 404 185 392 185 399 175 399 163 435 150 454 159 463 169 463 205 468 224 498 241 509 257 517 308 519 330 496 394 473 558 Commander in chief Matsudaira Taro
Matsudaira Taro
was Commander-in-Chief of the Army under the Minister of the Army Katsu Kaishū, during the Bakumatsu period of Japanese history, and later became vice-president of the Republic of Ezo during the Boshin War. He was particularly in charge of Internal Affairs and Foreign Relations....
poly 548 372 531 327 528 285 529 244 545 231 575 212 558 192 558 175 556 175 554 147 560 138 577 131 594 131 609 159 605 165 610 187 610 212 646 227 679 261 708 299 670 363 666 383 657 387 664 396 671 449 716 503 714 517 658 453 654 534 528 535 Tajima Kintaro
poly 162 365 148 235 109 184 117 144 135 106 164 92 175 78 169 49 169 31 178 24 195 24 208 35 215 41 215 47 207 55 208 72 217 82 225 91 253 104 263 141 193 365 Captain André Cazeneuve
poly 265 227 267 150 272 139 297 129 293 106 287 91 294 66 305 60 321 60 333 71 338 78 344 81 344 89 340 97 336 103 334 122 360 139 365 139 376 149 391 179 398 226 358 245 371 305 315 362 Sargeant Jean Marlin
Jean Marlin
Jean Marlin was a non-commissioned officer, a sergeant of the French 8th Battalion of infantry. He was a member of the first French Military Mission to Japan in 1867, in which he accompanied Jules Brunet...
poly 380 222 386 171 404 151 405 134 399 116 403 114 396 99 410 86 444 97 451 104 451 109 442 115 444 133 441 142 460 170 Fukushima Tokinosuke
poly 457 166 461 121 475 104 503 89 509 82 499 72 496 48 489 21 523 17 539 37 541 48 534 71 534 78 547 91 565 99 580 104 627 185 623 210 545 307 577 481 469 493 Sergeant Arthur Fortant
Arthur Fortant
Arthur Fortant was a non-commissioned officer, a sergeant of the French Regiment of the Guard of the field artillery. He was a member of the first French Military Mission to Japan in 1867, in which he accompanied Jules Brunet...
rect 0 0 713 561 Use button to enlarge or cursor to investigate
desc none
Commander of the mission:
- Captain Charles Sulpice Jules Chanoine
Officers:
- Charles Albert Dubousquet, lieutenant of the 31st Rgt of the Line, infantry instructor.
- Édouard Messelot, lieutenant of the 20th battalion of Chasseurs à Pied, infantry instructor.
- Léon Descharmes, lieutenant of the Empress Dragoon Regiment of the Guard, cavalry instructor.
- Jules BrunetJules BrunetJules Brunet was a French officer who played an active role in Mexico and Japan, and later became a General and Chief of Staff of the French Minister of War in 1898...
, lieutenant to the Horse Artillery Regiment of the Guard, artillery instructor.
Non-Commissioned Officers:
- Jean MarlinJean MarlinJean Marlin was a non-commissioned officer, a sergeant of the French 8th Battalion of infantry. He was a member of the first French Military Mission to Japan in 1867, in which he accompanied Jules Brunet...
, sergeant to the 8th battalion of Chasseurs à Pied, infantry instructor. - François BouffierFrançois BouffierFrançois Bouffier was a French non-commissioned officer of the 19th century, a sergeant of the 8th Battalion of infantrymen. He was a member of the first French Military Mission to Japan in 1867, in which he accompanied Jules Brunet...
, sergeant to the 8th battalion of Chasseurs à Pied, infantry instructor. - Henry Ygrec, sergeant to the 31st Regiment of the Line, infantry instructor.
- Emile Peyrussel, sergeant, sous-maître de manège à l'école d'état-major, cavalry instructor.
- Arthur FortantArthur FortantArthur Fortant was a non-commissioned officer, a sergeant of the French Regiment of the Guard of the field artillery. He was a member of the first French Military Mission to Japan in 1867, in which he accompanied Jules Brunet...
, sergeant, Horse Artillery Regiment of the Guard, artillery instructor. - L. Gutthig, trumpeter to the battalion de Chasseurs of the Guard.
- Charles Bonnet, chef armurier second class.
- Barthélémy Izard, sergeant, chief artificier of the Horse Artillery Regiment of the Guard.
- Frédéric Valette, sergeant, wood specialist.
- Jean-Félix Mermet, brigadier, steel specialist.
- Jourdan, captain, Engineer of the 1st Engineer Regiment.
- Michel, sergeant, Engineer of the 1st Engineer Regiment.
The mission left Marseilles November 19, 1866, and arrived in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
on January 13, 1867. They were welcome on their arrival by Léon Roches
Léon Roches
Léon Roches was a representative of the French government in Japan from 1864 to 1868.Léon Roches was a student at the Lycée de Tournon in Grenoble, and followed an education in Law...
and the commander of the French Far East Squadron Admiral Roze
Róze
Róże is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Węgorzewo, within Węgorzewo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, close to the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia....
.
The military mission was able to train an elite corps of Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
Tokugawa Yoshinobu
Tokugawa Yoshinobu
was the 15th and last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful...
, the Denshutai
Denshūtai
The was a corps of elite troops of the Tokugawa Bakufu during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. The corps was founded by Ōtori Keisuke with the help of the 1867–68 French Military Mission to Japan.The corps was composed of 800 men...
, for a little more than one year, before the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
lost to the Imperial forces in 1868 in the Boshin War
Boshin War
The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
. The French military mission was then ordered to leave Japan by Imperial decree in October 1868.
However, Jules Brunet and four of his non-commissioned officers (Fortant, Marlin, Cazeneuve, Bouffier), chose to remain in Japan and continue supporting the Bakufu side. They resigned from the French army, and left for the North of Japan with the remains of the Shogunate's armies in the hope of staging a counter-attack.
The conflict continued until May 1869 until the Battle of Hakodate
Battle of Hakodate
The was fought in Japan from October 20, 1868 to May 17, 1869, between the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate army, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the armies of the newly formed Imperial government...
, with the victory of the Imperial side.
See also
- Second French Military Mission to Japan (1872-1880)French Military Mission to Japan (1872-1880)The 1872–1880 French Military Mission to Japan was the second French military mission to that country. It followed the first French Military Mission to Japan , which had ended with the Boshin War and the establishment of the rule of Emperor Meiji....
- Third French Military Mission to Japan (1884)
- Fourth French Military Mission to Japan (1918-1919)French Military Mission to Japan (1918-1919)The French Aeronautical Mission to Japan , was the first foreign military mission to Japan since the 1890s.During the early 20th century, Japan realized it was inexperienced in newer military areas, such as aviation and naval aviation...