Early life Shigeyoshi Inoue was born on December 9, 1889, in
Sendai,
Miyagi Prefecture, the eleventh son of a
vineyard owner and former
samurai retainer Kanori Inoue. His name Shigeyoshi, consisting of the
kanji 成 (to achieve) and 美 (beauty), was derived from a passage in
Analects by
Yan Hui saying "The Master said, the man of virtue seeks to achieve the beautiful qualities of men and does not seek to achieve their bad qualities. The small man does the opposite of this." Shigeyoshi, who was taught by his father to become a man like this, took great pride in this name.
Early career Inoue attended the 37th class of the
Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, graduating second out of a class of 179 cadets in 1909. As a
midshipman, he was assigned to the
cruiser on its 1909 cruise from
Dairen to
Chemulpo,
Chinkai,
Sasebo and
Tsu. He stayed with
Soya on its cruise the following year to
Manila,
Ambon,
Townsville,
Brisbane, Sydney,
Hobart,
Melbourne,
Fremantle,
Batavia,
Singapore, Hong Kong,
Makung, and
Keelung. On his return, he was assigned to the
battleship , and then the cruiser .
Overseas experience Shortly after his promotion to
ensign on December 15, 1910, he was reassigned to the cruiser and attended the coronation ceremonies for
King George V in London in 1911. In 1912, he returned to school to study latest
naval artillery and
submarine warfare techniques and was promoted to sub-lieutenant at the end of that year. In 1913, he served on the cruiser , followed by the battleship . He was promoted to
lieutenant at the end of 1915, and transferred to the battleship . Although
Fusō participated in operations in
World War I against the
Imperial German Navy, Inoue was not in any combat situations. At the end of 1918, Inoue was appointed
military attaché to Switzerland, and ordered by the Navy to learn German. In 1919, he was part of the Japanese diplomatic delegation to the
Paris Peace Conference, where this knowledge proved to be useful. In 1920, he was appointed
military attaché to France, and was then ordered to learn French. In December 1921, he received a promotion to
lieutenant commander, and was permitted to return to Japan. After serving as
executive officer on the in 1923, Inoue enrolled in the
Naval Staff College, graduating 3rd in a class of 21 the following year from the 22nd class. On December 1, 1925, he was promoted to
commander. Inoue remained in staff positions for the next several years, including an appointment as naval attaché to Italy from 1927 to 1929, after which he was promoted to
captain.
As Admiral On November 15, 1933, Inoue was given command of
Hiei. However, his administrative talents could not be overlooked, and he returned to shore duties after slightly over a year and a half. Promoted to
rear admiral on November 15, 1935, Inoue was made vice commander of the
IJN 3rd Fleet, which covered the
China theater of operations in 1939 and further promoted to
vice admiral the same year. Inoue was a protégé of Admiral
Isoroku Yamamoto, and was strongly opposed to the
Tripartite Pact with
Fascist Italy and
Nazi Germany. As with Yamamoto, he was a strong proponent of
naval aviation. Inoue was awarded the
Order of the Rising Sun (first class) in 1940. In 1940, Inoue became commander of the
Imperial Japanese Navy Aviation Bureau, and submitted his thesis for a radical restructuring of the Imperial Japanese Navy to
Naval Minister Koshirō Oikawa early in 1941. He was highly critical of the Navy's shipbuilding programme, with its emphasis on battleships over aircraft carriers. Inoue was given command of the
IJN Fourth Fleet later the same year, based out of
Truk. He was thus in command of Japanese naval forces during the
Battle of Guam and
Battle of Wake Island. He subsequently relocated his headquarters to
Rabaul for
Operation Mo, intended to occupy
Port Moresby. However, after the Japanese defeat at the
Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, Admiral
Isoroku Yamamoto deemed him insufficiently aggressive, and relieved him of his command in October, but allowed him to save face and had him and returned to Japan to become commander of the
Imperial Japanese Naval Academy. He became
Vice Minister of the Navy in the closing stages of
World War II, was promoted to full
admiral on May 15, 1945 (one of the last two promotions made to this rank), and officially retired on October 15 of the same year. After the war, Inoue became an English and music teacher to children at his house in
Yokosuka. The site of his home is now a public park. However, this site was closed due to the
2011 Tohoku Earthquake. His grave is at
Tama Cemetery in
Fuchū, Tokyo, Japan. ==References==