General Okasaki belongs to a race of Samurai or fighting clans and enlisted in the Imperial army. At the age of eighteen years he fought for the restoration of the temporal power of the Mikado and was severely wounded--twice by bullets and once by the sword. While pursuing an enemy on foot a man darted out of a bush and thrust his sword into the young soldier’s side. Stepping back one pace Okasaki struck off the head of his assailant. In the Civil War of 1879 was again wounded. A subaltern in the force sent to attack the enemy’s rear, he landed at Nagasaki and received two bullets that kept him in hospital for three weeks. In the advance on Kumamoto he commanded a battalion and was afterwards promoted to the rank of captain. He was a major in 1885 and five years later was appointed aide-de-camp to the Prince Imperial. At the outbreak of war with China, Okasaki was a lieutenant-colonel and acted as chief of the staff to the 4th Division in Osaka. In 1897 he was chief of the staff of the Japanese garrison at Wei-hai-wei and after the evacuation of that port became a member of the General Staff in Tokyo. From the chief staff office of the 2nd Division he passed in 1901 to the command of the brigade which has proved itself in every way worthy of so gallant and experienced a leader. The brigade sailed from Ujina on March 20th and disembarked at Chinampo six days later. It was a regiment of this brigade--the 16th regiment--that hoisted the Imperial flag on the Conical Hill at Chiu-lien-cheng, and another regiment--the 30th--that pursued the fugitive enemy to Hamatan and captured the Russian batteries. These are the most brilliant episodes in the battle of the Yalu. After the occupation of Feng-hoang-cheng, General Okasaki was in the first fighting line and held the Pass of Mou-tien-ling, where he repulsed two counter attacks by greatly superior forces. On July 31st he led his brigade from Mou-tien-ling through the mountains east to assist the 12th Division in the fight at Yu-shu-ling. It was the hottest day of the year, and General Okasaki was suffering from dysentery. He was unable to ride, and marched the whole way in the blazing sun. On the battlefield his pain was so intense that he ordered the doctor to inject chloroform into his intestines, and continued to direct the operations. “I never fought a more interesting fight,” observed the General. “It was like hunting hares.”