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Yamagata Aritomo (山県 有朋; April
22,1838–February 1,1922) was a Japanese military
leader and politician, and the fourth (December
24, 1889–May 6, 1891) and 11th (1898–1900)
Prime Minister of Japan. He was the first Prime
Minister after the opening of the Imperial Diet. 
He had led the newly modernized Imperial Army
against a rebellion led by Saigo Takamori in 1877
and then became one of the central figures in the
Japanese army until the 1920s, but also an
influential politician. He also was a talented
garden designer and today the gardens he designed
are known masterpieces of Japanese style gardens,
such as the garden of the villa Murin-an in Kyoto.



Yamagata was born in a lower-classed samurai
Family of Hagi, the capital of the feudal domain
Choshu-han. He went to Shokasonjuku, a private
school run by Yoshida Shoin and studied Chinese
thought. In 1863 he did a good job as a commander
of Kihei-tai, a troop newly organized by
Choshu-han. During the Boshin War he was appointed
a staff officer.

In 1869 he went to Europe together with Saigo
Tsugumichi under the governmental order to
research military system of European Forces. After
his return to Japan in 1870, Yamagata
energetically modernized the Japanese army, which
he modeled after the Prussian army. The Japanese
army began subsequently began a draft that same
year. In 1873 he was appointed Army Minister and
continued to develop the Army. He and his follower
Katsura Taro pushed through the foundation of the
General Staff Office, which became the main source
of Yamagata's political power and that of other
military officers. He had Emperor Meiji of
Japan|the emperor Meiji write the Imperial
Rescript to soldiers and sailors as well. This
document was considered the moral core of the
Japanese Army until its end in 1945.

In 1883 he was appointed to the Lord Chancellor,
the highest bureaucrat position in the system
before the Meiji Constitution. He suppressed the
Free Democratic Movement, requesting for
participation to politics by people, and ordered
the formation of the local administrative system,
which would consist of city, county and
prefectural systems.

Under the Meiji constitution he was appointed to
the Prime Minister twice in 1889 and 1898. In 1891
he received the honor of Genro, or official elder
statesman. He showed his leadership on military
issues during the First Sino-Japanese War as the
Supreme Commander of the First Army and
Russo-Japanese War as the Chief Officer of the
General Staff Office in Tokyo.　After the
death of Ito Hirobumi in 1910 he became the most
influential politican in Japan and remained so
until his death in 1922, although he retired from
active politics after the Russo-Japanese War. He
retained, however, honorary titles like that of
the Elder Statesman as well as the Presidency of
the Privy Council.

In the anime Rurouni Kenshin, Aritomo Yamagata
briefly enters the story to invite Himura Kenshin
to join the army, as Kenshin's combat skills are
legendary. Kenshin declines the offer. 

start box
succession box| title=List of Prime Ministers of
Japan|Prime Minister of Japan| before=Kuroda
Kiyotaka| after=Matsukata Masayoshi|
years=1889–1891| 
succession box| title=List of Prime Ministers of
Japan|Prime Minister of Japan| before=Okuma
Shigenobu| after=Ito Hirobumi| years=1898–1900| 
end box