Army preparatory school (Japan)

"Army Cadet School" redirects here. For other uses, see Cadet school.

Army Cadet School was a fully residential military school in the Imperial Japanese Army that educated selected boys aged 13 to under 15 (typically second-year students at a prewar secondary school) for future commissioning as active-duty line officers. It was modeled on the Prussian cadet school system . Common abbreviated names included Rikuyō, Yōnenkō, and Yōnengakkō.

The Army Central Cadet School in the late Meiji era.

Overview

See also: Imperial Japanese Army Academy

The Imperial Japanese Army's cadet-school system changed repeatedly over time. After the Imperial Japanese Army Academy adopted a preparatory and main-course structure in 1920, the term "Army Cadet School" generally referred to a boarding institution equivalent to a prewar secondary school, designed to prepare students to become cadets of the Army Academy's preparatory course (later reorganized and renamed as the Army Preparatory Officer School). Under Article 1 of the 1940 Imperial Ordinance No. 89, "Army Cadet School Ordinance," the school was defined as an institution that, with military necessities in mind, taught general subjects and cultivated a soldierly spirit in order to provide students with the aptitude required to become students of the Army Preparatory Officer School.

Students in the academy/Preparatory track were composed mainly of (1) graduates of the cadet schools (often called the "Cadet School group") and (2) those who attended ordinary secondary schools and then applied as officer aspirants (the "Middle School group").

Approximately 51,000 Army Academy graduates were produced from the first class (graduating October 1877) through Japan's defeat in 1945, of whom about 19,000 were associated with the cadet-school pipeline (from early graduates in April 1874 through those enrolled at war's end), yielding an overall cumulative ratio often summarized as roughly "Cadet School group : Middle School group = 4 : 6." Cadet-school students, together with preparatory-course students, were also collectively referred to as "officer students".

From the 1920s onward, a typical commissioning pathway for line officers was: Cadet School or secondary school → Academy preparatory course (or later the Army Preparatory Officer School) → assignment as an officer candidate to a branch and unit, a short period of unit attachment (with nominal enlisted/NCO rank progression) → entry to the academy main course (and for aviation specialists, the separate Army Air Academy) → postgraduation unit attachment as an officer cadet (rank typically sergeant major) → commissioning as second lieutenant. Cadet School thus functioned as the earliest step in the mainstream pipeline toward active-duty line commissions. From the late Meiji period onward, cadet-school graduates were often exempted from the preparatory-course entrance examination and advanced in an "escalator" fashion.

From 1896 to 1903, the institution later reorganized as the academy preparatory course was named the Army Central Cadet School (one school in Tokyo near the academy at Ichigaya). After the local cadet-school system was established in 1897, Army Local Cadet Schools were set up in Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Kumamoto. In 1903, the Army Central Cadet School and the Tokyo Local Cadet School were merged, with the former becoming the "Main Course" and the latter the "Preparatory Course." After 1920, the Central Main Course became the academy preparatory course; the Central Preparatory Course became the Tokyo Army Cadet School; and the local schools were renamed simply "Army Cadet School" (e.g., Osaka Army Cadet School).

Historian Fujii Hishizōshi noted that the operating cost of a local cadet school (150 students) was roughly comparable to that of a 600-student prewar higher school, and that the cadet schools maintained a staffing structure approximating "two staff members per student." He concluded that "even up to the present day, the most thoroughly equipped educational institution in Japan was the Army Cadet School."

Selection

Because becoming an Army officer was in practice largely assured for successful cadet-school students, the schools were widely regarded as elite institutions. Applicants were numerous, and entrance examinations commonly ran at around 20-to-1 in competitiveness (varying by period), making admission difficult even for top students at secondary schools.

During the Pacific War, scholar Shōichi Watanabe, then a student at Tsuruoka Middle School (present-day Yamagata Prefectural Tsuruoka Minami High School), recalled that the school held an extra hour of "special instruction" every morning for first- and second-year students aspiring to cadet-school admission, and that only one student from his school entered a cadet school during his enrollment.

Because passing the entrance examination placed the student on the military rolls, the cadet-school entrance test was termed a "recruitment examination" (Japanese: 召募試験), as were the academy entrance examinations. Candidates first underwent a physical examination; only those who passed could sit for the academic tests (Japanese language, composition, geography, history, mathematics, and science).

Eligibility was defined primarily by age: applicants had to be at least 13 and under 15 at the end of the fiscal-year cutoff date (March 31) in the year of entry, and could apply up to twice. The academic level expected was approximately that of completion of the second term of the first year of secondary school, but formal educational background was not a strict requirement. In practice, many entrants came from secondary schools due to the high competition, though a small number came from higher elementary schools.

Orphans of military personnel (Army or Navy) killed in action or deceased from wounds or illness incurred on duty, as well as certain categories of civil officials, could be admitted as special scholarship students if they met minimum standards, regardless of ranking. Mathematics aptitude was emphasized; candidates with perfect scores in mathematics and adequate performance elsewhere could receive preferential consideration. Successful examinees then underwent a more detailed physical examination at the school to which they were assigned, and only those who passed became cadet-school students.

Fee reductions for children of military officers also influenced the intake, and it has been estimated that roughly 30% to 50% of cadet-school entrants were children of military officers.

Tuition

Unlike the officer schools (the Army Preparatory Officer School, the Army Academy, the Army Air Academy, and the Army Accounting School), which were tuition-free, the cadet schools charged fees. As an example, in 1938 the combined monthly tuition and dormitory fee was 20 yen, and families typically remitted an additional 5 yen as allowance, for a total of 25 yen per month.

Students could be designated full scholarship students (full fee exemption) or half scholarship students (half fee exemption), subject to household means and the following categories, among others, under the 1938 rules: children of deceased service members or certain civil officials; children of those entitled to pensions under the Pension Act; children of active-duty field officers and below; children of long-serving warrant officers and below; children of long-serving appointed civil officials; and children of individuals specially meritorious to the state who had died.

Comparison with secondary-school tuition

As a point of comparison, an Aichi prefectural middle school charged 4.70 yen per month in tuition (tuition only) in 1935. A 1940 publication (supervised by the Inspector General of Military Education) included a father's remark that while cadet-school fees were 20 yen (25 yen including allowance), sending a child to a regular secondary school from home could also require about 20 yen per month in total expenses.

Education

The three-year cadet-school curriculum primarily consisted of general secondary-level subjects equivalent to years two through five of the prewar secondary-school system, taught mainly by civilian instructors serving as Army teachers (academic instruction). In addition, students received comparatively simple military studies, discipline training, and moral exhortation from commissioned officers such as student supervisors (training and character formation). While the core curriculum did not differ dramatically from ordinary secondary schools, cadet schools placed distinctive emphasis on foreign languages (one of German, French, Russian, or English; English began to be introduced in some schools from 1938), music, and drawing. In 1921, cadet-school graduates were granted eligibility to sit for higher-school entrance examinations.

Training companies

The course of study was approximately three years (first, second, and third years). Cohorts were assigned to training companies (Japanese: 訓育班) with nominal quotas of 50 students, subdivided into academic classes (Japanese: 学班) of 25. In 1938, dormitory rooms typically housed 10 students and included one "model student" (see below) living with them. Each training company had a study room with assigned desks. Intake increased after the Manchurian Incident; for example, the 44th entering class (1940) numbered 150 students. By 1945, expansions meant some cohorts reached roughly 300 students, with multiple training companies organized as needed.

As with Academy students and ordinary soldiers, cadet-school students were generally allowed to go out on Sundays and national holidays, and they received long vacations (summer and winter). Major annual events included summer swimming training, autumn athletic meets, and school trips. A canteen (Japanese: 酒保) typically opened one weekday and on Sundays.

Staff

Under the 1940 revision of the Army Cadet School Ordinance, staff positions included a principal, adjutant, attached staff, instructors, director of training, chief student supervisor, student supervisors, and NCOs and lower-ranked civil officials. The principal was typically a major general or colonel; senior training posts were commonly lieutenant colonels; and student supervisors were often majors. Student supervisors were particularly influential in daily life. In the later war years, as mid-career officers were transferred to combat theaters, shortages led to the creation of junior-officer "training platoon leader" posts to assist supervisory staff.

Model students and duty students

In first- and second-year training companies, selected third-year students of exemplary conduct and strong academic performance were assigned to live and study alongside junior students to provide guidance; these were called "model students" (formerly "guidance students"). Similar systems existed in the academy preparatory track. Junior students routinely received direct guidance from seniors.

Within the same year cohort, rotating "duty students" (Japanese: 取締生徒) were appointed by room or daily duty roster to lead their groups in classes and other activities.

Writer Hyoei Murakami, who entered the Hiroshima Army Cadet School as a 42nd-class student in spring 1938, later stated that it was rare for third-year students to strike first-year students, and that such discipline, when it occurred, tended to be directed at second-year students who were becoming insolent. He also described how, after third-year students left early for accelerated entry to the preparatory officer school, tensions flared between second- and first-year students, and that he was first struck around that time.

Uniform

A student of the Army Central Cadet School or the Sendai Local Cadet School in the early 1900s; later General Kenji Doihara.

Uniform regulations changed repeatedly. Under the major 1938 revision (Imperial Ordinance No. 392), cadet-school student uniforms were of notably high quality and distinct from enlisted uniforms, featuring applied pockets, shoulder-loop epaulettes, cherry-blossom embossed buttons, cuff turnbacks, and a standing-collar tunic of higher-grade cloth and tailoring. Scarlet piping was applied to epaulettes and cuffs (winter uniform). A special traditional gold metal star insignia was worn on the collar, similar to that of officer cadets and preparatory-course students. In 1943 (Imperial Ordinance No. 774), the collar insignia was further embellished with cherry-blossom leaf embroidery on scarlet backing, and shoulder straps gained an additional gold star badge with cherry-blossom leaves. Cadet-school students were sometimes nicknamed "star students" due to the collar star and cap badge.

As with officer candidates and preparatory-course students, cadet-school students wore a belt with a buckle bearing the rising-sun emblem and cherry-blossom motifs, and they were authorized white gloves as quasi-officer attire. From around 1900, local cadet-school students also carried swords when going out, and later typically used the Type 30 bayonet.

History

The system traces its origins to 1870 (Meiji 3), when the Yokohama Language Institute was incorporated into the Osaka Military Academy and renamed the "Youth Students' Dormitory" (Japanese: 幼年学舎). In 1871, the Osaka academy split into Army and Navy academies and moved to Tokyo. In 1872, with revisions to Army educational regulations, an independent cadet school was established. In 1874, the Army Academy separated from the Army academy system; in 1875, the cadet school also separated and was renamed the Army Cadet School, but it was absorbed into the Army Academy in 1877 and temporarily disappeared.

After the promulgation of the Middle School Order and related education reforms in 1886, Army Academy and Army Cadet School administrative regulations were established in 1887, and the Army Cadet School was reestablished. In 1889, the administrative regulation was abolished and replaced by an ordinance.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, in May 1896 the ordinance was abolished and replaced by separate ordinances for an Army Central Cadet School (one in Tokyo) and Army Local Cadet Schools (one each in Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Kumamoto) under the Army Ministry. This created a five-year program: three years at a local cadet school followed by two years at the central cadet school, closely resembling the five-year ordinary middle school system under the Education Ministry. Debates over abolishing the local schools arose in educational circles and newspapers, and proposals were prepared in the Imperial Diet, but abolition did not occur, partly due to concerns within the Army about "free education" in civilian schools and contemporary issues of school unrest.

On May 12, 1898, the Central Cadet School moved to a newly built campus on the former site of the 1st Field Artillery Regiment in Ichigaya (Ushigome Ward, Tokyo City). In 1903, fiscal constraints drove a merger of the Central Cadet School and the Tokyo Local Cadet School: the Central school became the Central Cadet School Main Course and the Tokyo Local school became the Central Cadet School Preparatory Course, with a unified principal.

In 1920, the Army Cadet School Ordinance was promulgated and, on August 10, the Central Main Course became the Army Academy Preparatory Course; the Central Preparatory Course became the Tokyo Army Cadet School; and the local cadet schools were renamed as Army Cadet Schools (e.g., Nagoya Army Cadet School). Amid global disarmament trends following the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, the Osaka school was abolished, followed by Nagoya (1923), Sendai (1924), Hiroshima (1925), and Kumamoto (1926), leaving only the Tokyo school. From 1936 onward, however, schools were reopened: Hiroshima (1936), Sendai (1937), Kumamoto (1939), and Osaka and Nagoya (1940). Osaka, for example, relocated to Chiyoda Village (present-day Kawachinagano) near the historic area associated with Masashige Kusunoki, and admitted its 44th-class cohort on April 1.

In 1945, following Japan's defeat in the Pacific War, the cadet schools were abolished and dissolved along with the Army Academy, the Army Air Academy, and the Army Preparatory Officer School. The former Tokyo Army Cadet School grounds became farmland; on March 1, 1946, Emperor Shōwa visited the site during his postwar tours.

Cadet School group and Middle School group

A commonly stated view holds that within the Imperial Japanese Army, cadet-school graduates were favored and came to dominate key posts, while those from ordinary secondary schools were treated as peripheral.

Takeishi Norifumi's analysis

Takeishi Norifumi examined Army Academy classes from the 17th (graduated March 1905) through the 55th (graduated July 1941) and found that: (1) cadet-school entrants had a higher share of "modern-sector" family backgrounds (military officers, civil officials, teachers, police, company employees, physicians, lawyers, politicians), exceeding even the shares among elite higher-school and imperial-university students; (2) the middle-school group had a higher share of "agricultural-sector" backgrounds; and (3) within the modern sector, the proportion of military-officer fathers remained consistently high, with roughly 20% to 30% of cadet-school students being officers' sons.

Takeishi further argued that cadet-school entrants tended to come from higher economic strata than middle-school entrants and that cadet-school entrants were concentrated more heavily in Tokyo, while middle-school entrants were geographically dispersed nationwide. Promotion and assignment were heavily influenced by class standing at the Army Academy and later at the Army War College, and cadet-school entrants were often overrepresented among the top performers.

Fujii Hishizōshi's analysis

Fujii argued that cadet-school entrants' exposure to German, French, and Russian, as opposed to the middle-school group's more limited foreign-language preparation, became a disadvantage for the latter in War College admission rates and graduation rankings. He also contended that key personnel and operations posts in the central Army bureaucracy were dominated by cadet-school networks, which could operate as an informal barrier to rational personnel decisions.

Schools

• Tokyo Army Cadet School (formerly Tokyo Local Cadet School and the Central Cadet School Preparatory Course)
• Osaka Army Cadet School (formerly Osaka Local Cadet School)
• Sendai Army Cadet School (formerly Sendai Local Cadet School)
• Nagoya Army Cadet School (formerly Nagoya Local Cadet School)
• Hiroshima Army Cadet School (formerly Hiroshima Local Cadet School)
• Kumamoto Army Cadet School (formerly Kumamoto Local Cadet School)
• Army Academy Preparatory Course / Army Preparatory Officer School (formerly the Central Cadet School Main Course)

Terminology

Cadet schools and related officer-student institutions used extensive in-group jargon. Terms included "KD," "Kade," "cadet," and "C" for cadet-school students. Because early Imperial Japanese Army institutions drew on French and German models, some terms derived from those languages.

• D-koro (Japanese: Dコロ): a disparaging term used by middle-school entrants for cadet-school entrants, derived from the "D" in "Kade/KD."
• P-koro (Japanese: Pコロ): a disparaging term used by cadet-school entrants for middle-school entrants, said to derive from German Platpatrone ("blank cartridge"), contrasting themselves as Scharfepatrone ("live cartridge").
• Chigo-san (Japanese: 稚児さん): a student believed to be favored by seniors or supervisors.

Principals

Successive principals

Army Cadet School (first establishment)

• Colonel Seishō Takeda (武田成章): 2 May 1875 –
• (Acting concurrently) Lieutenant Colonel Masataka Hoshina (保科正敬): 7 September 1875 – (abolished 13 January 1877)

Army Cadet School (second establishment)

• Lieutenant Colonel Kanefusa Fujii (藤井包總), Engineers: June 1887 – 3 June 1889
• (Acting) Lieutenant Colonel Kanefusa Fujii, Engineers: 11 June 1889 – 10 July 1889
• (Provisional) Major Nobutaka Furukawa (古川宣誉), Engineers: 10 July 1889 – 2 November 1889
• Lieutenant Colonel Nobutaka Furukawa, Engineers: 2 November 1889 – 25 August 1890
• Lieutenant Colonel Nagato Yamauchi (山内長人), Infantry: 25 August 1890 – 7 December 1892
• Lieutenant Colonel Nao Sasaki (佐々木直), Infantry: 7 December 1892 –
• (Concurrent; administrative acting) Colonel Tsuyoshi Hatano (波多野毅), Infantry: 13 September 1894 – 10 August 1895
• Lieutenant Colonel Miki Awaya (粟屋幹), Infantry: 10 August 1895 – 15 May 1896

Army Central Cadet School

• Lieutenant Colonel Miki Awaya, Infantry: 15 May 1896 – 25 September 1896
• Lieutenant Colonel Fumie Taniya (谷田文衛), Infantry: 25 September 1896 –
• Lieutenant Colonel Yoshihiro Izaki (伊崎良煕), Infantry: 1 October 1898 –
• Colonel Yasutaka Ono (小野安堯), Artillery: 7 September 1904 –
• Lieutenant Colonel Takeshi Takeuchi, Infantry: (date unknown) – 9 March 1906
• Colonel Kuniyuki Noguchi (野口坤之), Infantry: 9 March 1906 – 18 March 1908
• Colonel Tsukasa Kunō (久能司), Infantry: 18 March 1908 – 30 November 1910
• Colonel Hirotake Matsuura (松浦寛威), Infantry: 30 November 1910 – 10 August 1915
• Colonel Hatsutarō Iwasaki (岩崎初太郎), Infantry: 10 August 1915 –
• Major General Naotoshi Hasegawa (長谷川直敏): 12 May 1920 – 10 August 1920 (reorganized as the Army Academy Preparatory Course)

Selected local-school principals

• Shūta Tachibana (橘周太): principal in Nagoya; killed in action at the Battle of Liaoyang.
• Sadatoshi Chida (千田貞季): principal in Sendai; killed in action as commander of the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade at Iwo Jima.
• Harukichi Hyakutake (百武晴吉): principal in Hiroshima; later commander of the 17th Army (see Guadalcanal campaign).
• Korechika Anami (阿南惟幾): principal in Tokyo; later Army Minister; died by suicide at the minister's residence on the eve of Japan's surrender.

Notable people

Students enrolled at the time of Japan's defeat

Because the schools closed at defeat, all students returned to civilian secondary schools.

• Kyotaro Nishimura (writer) – Tokyo
• Otohiko Kaga (writer) – Nagoya
• Takuya Fujioka (actor) – Hiroshima
• Hisato Aikura (music critic) – Tokyo

Withdrew before graduation

• Sakae Ōsugi (writer) – Nagoya

Bibliography

• 上法, 快男 (1973). 陸軍大学校 (in Japanese). 芙蓉書房出版.
• 教育総監部, （監修）、陸軍将校生徒試験常置委員（編） (1940). 輝く陸軍将校生徒 (in Japanese). 大日本雄弁会講談社.
• 塚本, 誠 (1998). ある情報将校の記録. 中公文庫 (in Japanese). 中央公論社.
• 外山操; 森松俊夫, eds. (1987). 帝国陸軍編制総覧 (in Japanese). 芙蓉書房出版.
• 野邑, 理栄子 (2006). 陸軍幼年学校体制の研究 (in Japanese). 吉川弘文館.
• 秦, 郁彦 (2005). 日本陸海軍総合事典 (in Japanese) (2nd ed.). 東京大学出版会.
• 半藤, 一利 (2013). 歴代陸軍大将全覧 昭和編／太平洋戦争期 (in Japanese). 中央公論新社.
• 藤井, 非三四 (2018). 陸軍派閥 (in Japanese). 潮書房光人新社（光人社NF文庫）.
• 村上, 兵衛 (2003). 桜と剣 第一部 わが三代のグルメット (in Japanese). 光人社.
• 山崎正男（編集責任）『陸軍士官学校』秋元書房、1969年。
• 渡部, 昇一 (2015). 本当のことがわかる昭和史 (in Japanese). PHP研究所. ISBN 4569824897.
• 江利川, 春雄 (2005). "日本陸軍の英語教育史-1930年代以降の幼年学校・予科士官学校を中心に-". 日本英語教育史研究 (in Japanese). 20. 日本英語教育史学会: 65–90. doi:10.11222/hisetjournal1986.20.0_65.

See also

• Army Preparatory Officer School (formerly the Central Cadet School Main Course)
• Imperial Japanese Army Academy
• Army Reserve Officer School (Japan)
• Army Air Academy (Japan)
• Imperial Japanese Army War College
• Imperial Japanese Army Air Service youth pilot programs (see: Army Youth Pilot, etc.)
• Japan Ground Self-Defense Force High Technical School (and predecessors)
• Naval equivalent: Naval Academy Preparatory Course (opened April 1945)

External links

• 野邑, 理栄子 (2002). 日本陸軍エリート養成制度の研究 : 陸軍幼年学校体制の発足とその展開 (PhD dissertation) (in Japanese). Kobe University. hdl:20.500.14094/D1002502.