Early life and career Umezu was born in
Nakatsu, Ōita, Japan, where his family ran a bookstore since the 18th century. During his years at the
Kumamoto Prefectural Seiseikou High School in
Kumamoto, he decided to pursue a military career. He graduated from the 15th class of the
Imperial Japanese Army Academy on November 30, 1903, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the
infantry the following February 12, 1904. Promoted to lieutenant on June 30, 1905, he entered the 23rd class of the
Army Staff College, graduating first in 1911. Following his promotion to captain on March 25, 1912, he was sent to Europe for further studies in
Germany and
Denmark. While in Denmark, he was also a
military observer from Japan, during the course of
World War I, and was promoted to major on June 1, 1918. From 1919 to 1921, he was appointed as a
military attaché to
Switzerland. Umezu was promoted to lieutenant colonel on February 8, 1922, and to colonel on December 15, 1925. Umezu served as an instructor at the Army Staff College from 1923 to 1924, and was commander of the IJA 3rd Infantry Regiment from 1924 to 1926. Umezu was promoted to
major general in August 1930 and commander of the IJA 1st Infantry Brigade. He worked at the General Staff from August 1933, and was sent as a
military attaché to
Switzerland from November 1933. After his return to Japan in March 1934, he was appointed commander of the
Japanese China Garrison Army and in November repelled a large-scale Chinese incursion into
Rehe Province. In June 1935 he signed the
He–Umezu Agreement, which was an attempt to defuse tensions between the
Republic of China and Japan, and which gave Japan control over ten provinces of
Hebei. Umezu was promoted to
lieutenant general in August. In August 1935, he became commander of the
Sendai-based
IJA 2nd Division. He strongly opposed the
February 26 incident attempted
coup-de-etat in 1936. Umezu was appointed
Vice Minister of the Army from March 1936 and working under Army Minister
Hisaichi Terauchi, purged many of the radical
kōdōha members from the Army ranks.
World War II on the
USS Missouri. Standing in the front row are Japanese Foreign Minister
Mamoru Shigemitsu (left) and Umezu (right). Umezu returned to China in May 1938 as
commander-in-chief of the
IJA 1st Army. By this time, the IJA 1st Army had completed its combat operations, and was serving as a garrison force in Japanese-occupied Northern China. From September 1939 he was commander-in-chief of the
Kwantung Army, which was likewise acting as a garrison force in
Manchukuo. He was promoted to full
general on August 1, 1940. In July 1944, Umezu was appointed as the final Chief of the
Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, and a member of the
Supreme War Council, following the resignation of
Hideki Tojo. Along with Army Minister
Korechika Anami and the Chief of
Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff,
Soemu Toyoda, Umezu opposed surrender in August 1945 and believed that the military should fight on and that by forcing the
Allies to sustain heavy losses in an invasion, Japan could negotiate for peace under better terms. He was aware of the planned
coup d'état by junior officers opposed to the surrender but did nothing to aid or to hinder it. He was personally ordered by Emperor
Hirohito to sign the instrument of surrender on behalf of the armed forces on September 2, 1945, and was thus the Army's senior representative during the
surrender ceremonies on the
battleship , officially ending World War II. He entered the reserves on November 30. After the war, he was arrested by the
SCAP authorities and tried as a
war criminal at the
International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo. He was found guilty of Counts 1, 27, 29, 31 and 32 of waging a
war of aggression and sentenced to
life imprisonment on November 12, 1948. Umezu died from
rectal cancer in 1949 while he was still incarcerated. He converted to
Catholicism one day before his death, and his
last rites were performed at his bedside by a Catholic priest. Although Umezu had followed the militaristic
State Shinto religion, his family favored Catholicism, and his daughter became a Catholic nun. ==Decorations==