Nishi was born as the son of a
samurai of
Satsuma Domain (present-day
Kagoshima Prefecture), and as a youth was in the service of
Shimazu Hisamitsu. He participated in the
Battle of Toba–Fushimi during the
Boshin War. Joining the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army in July 1871, he was made a battalion commander, and was promoted to major in December 1873. He subsequently participated in the suppression of the
Saga Rebellion, the
Taiwan Expedition of 1874, and the
Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Afterwards, he was assigned to the
Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office until February 1881. After a brief command of the IJA 11th Infantry Regiment, he was promoted to colonel in 1882 and to major general in 1889. During the
First Sino-Japanese War, Nishi commanded the IJA 2nd Infantry Brigade during the invasion of the
Liaodong Peninsula in
Manchuria. In August 1895, he was made a
baron (
danshaku) in the
kazoku peerage system. In May 1896, he was commander of the Japanese occupation forces in
Weihaiwei, in
Shandong Province of China. Promoted to lieutenant general in October of the same year, he followed
Nogi Maresuke as commander of the
2nd Infantry Division. He deployed with the division back to Manchuria in February 1904 at the start of the
Russo-Japanese War and participated in the
Battle of the Yalu, the capture of Antung, and the
Battle of Liaoyang. He was promoted to full general in June of the same year. In April 1905, he was awarded the
Order of the Golden Kite, 1st class. From May 1905, he was head of the
Inspectorate General of Military Training, one of the three most powerful posts in the Japanese Army. Nishi was appointed
aide-de-camp to the
Prince Fushimi Sadanaru on his trip to Europe in 1907, and on his return was elevated to viscount (
shishaku). Nishi entered the reserves in March 1911 and died in January the following year. On his death, he was posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the
Order of the Rising Sun, Paulownia Flowers. His grave is at the
Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo. == References ==