World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIwane Matsui was born as the sixth son of a former samurai retainer of the Tokugawa Clan of the Owari Domain. He graduated from a military academy in May 1896, and comleted studies at the Japanese Army Academy in Nov 1897. In Jun 1898, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. In Nov 1900, he was promoted to the rank of 1st lieutenant. Between 1904 and 1905, he participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905, seeing action in northeastern China. In Aug 1904, he was promoted to the rank of captain. In Nov 1906, he graduated from the Army Staff College at the top of the class. Between Jan 1907 and Apr 1911, he served in Beijing and Shanghai in China; during that time, in Nov 1909, he was promoted to the rank of major. In 1913 and in 1914, he visited French Indochina and Europe as a representative of the Japanese Army. In Aug 1918, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was attached to the 22nd Infantry Regiment. Between Dec 1915 and Feb 1919, he served in Shanghai, China. In Jul 1918, he was promoted to the rank of colonel. Between 1919 and 1921, he was the commanding officer of the 29th Regiment. Between 1921 and 1922, he was attached to the staff of the Vladivostok Expeditionary Force, which fought against Bolshevik Red Army forces in eastern Russia. Between 1922 and 1924, he served in northeastern China as the head of the Harbin Special Services Agency, an intelligence unit. In 1923, he was promoted to the rank of major general. Between 1924 and 1925, he was the commanding officer of the 35th Infantry Brigade. Between 1925 and 1928, he was the head of the 2nd Bureau of the Army General Staff. In Jul 1927, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. In 1928, he was attached to the Army General Staff, dealing with relations with European militaries. In 1929, he was given command of the 11th Division. He was attached to the Army General Staff between Oct and Dec 1931. Between Dec 1931 and Aug 1932, he was a member of the Japanese delegation to the Geneva Disarmament Conference. Between Mar and Jul 1933, he was a member of the Supreme War Council. He was promoted to the rank of general in Oct 1933. Between Aug 1933 and Jul 1934, he was the commanding officer of the Taiwan Army. In Apr 1934, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, 1st Class. From Aug 1934 until his retirement in 1935, he again served as a member of the Supreme War Council.

ww2dbaseIn Aug 1937, as war broke out, Matsui was recalled from the retirement list. As the head of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force and shortly after the Central China Area Army, he oversaw the conquest of the portion of central China stretching from Shanghai toward the capital of Nanjing. The Japanese entry of Nanjing turned out to be so brutal that the names "Rape of Nanjing" and "Nanjing Massacre" were coined to describe the horror. Depending on various sources, somewhere between 50,000 to over 300,000 Chinese, mostly civilians and prisoners of war, were tortured, mutilated, and killed by Japanese troops; there were also 20,000 documented cases of rape, with victims ranging from 10 to 80 years of age. Having suffered a bout of tuberculosis during this time, recuperting at the nearby city of Suzhou, he did not recover to enter Nanjing until 17 Dec 1937, and expressed that it was regrettable that the usually honorable Japanese Army had committed such acts that tainted the reputation of Japan. He was recalled back to Japan in 1938, where he again retired from active service. Between Jul 1938 and Jan 1940, however, he served as a military advisor to the cabinet. For the remainder of the war, he lived at his home in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In Feb 1940, he played an active part in erecting a statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, in Atami; the statue faced in the direction of Nanjing. During the war, he was active in the support of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere; to that end, he visited Malaya, Thailand, Burma, China, the Philippine Islands, and Dutch East Indies as the President of the Asia Society in Jun 1942.

ww2dbaseIn 1945, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East found Matsui guilty of Class B and Class C war crimes in relation to the Rape of Nanjing for having the knowledge that his troops were committing war crimes but failing to stop them. Due to pneumonia, he was not imprisoned until Mar 1946. He was executed by hanging at the Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan in 1948 at the age of 70. In 1978, he was enshrined at Yasukuni in Tokyo.

ww2dbaseMatsui's personal responsibility for the Rape of Nanjing remained a controversial topic long after the war. Some historians placed equal or greater responsibility on Prince Yasuhiko of the Asaka branch of the imperial family, who was the commanding officer of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force by the appointment of Emperor Showa. It was argued that Asaka, uncle of Emperor Showa, was the general in charge of the Japanese forces while Matsui suffered a bout of tuberculosis, and even after Matsui's return, even as the ranking officer Matsui could not overrule a member of the imperial family.

Iwane Matsui Interactive Map

Photographs

Iwane Matsui Timeline