General Kodama, Chief of Marquis Oyama’s staff, is a most interesting personality, and is popularly regarded as the brain of the army. He comes of a fighting race, having been born half a century ago in the province of Choshu, one of the four great Daimiates that have given an unbroken succession of warriors and rulers to Japan. The Marquis Ito, the most famous of modern statesmen, Count Inouye, ablest of administrators and diplomatists, and Field Marshal Yamagata are from Choshu. Indeed, there is only one other clan that has the heritage of power. If you are not of Satsuma you must be of Choshu. Hence the term “Sat-Cho,” familiar in politics to denote the combination of these great Daimiates. The province in which General Kodama was born played a foremost part in the revolution that overthrew the Shogun and restored the authority of the Mikado. His clansmen were the first to cast aside armour and sword and spear, and to adopt the arms, discipline, and tactics of Europe. Baron Kodama was sixteen years old when Japan began to throw off her feudal chains, and the revolution swept him into the forces arraigned against feudalism. In 1871 feudalism was dead. Shogun and Daimios were driven into private life and the Emperor was released from enforced seclusion at Kioto. But the seeds of disaffection remained, and in 1874 rebellion broke out in the province of Hizen, one of the Daimiates that had combined to destroy the Shogun. Kodama was a captain, having received his company twelve months before, and was sent with the Osaka division to Saga, as adjutant. The rebellion was suppressed in ten days, yet it lasted long enough to display the courage and determination of the young soldier. With a bullet through each arm he continued to pursue the rebels until help came and the rout was complete. On his return to the capital he was promoted to the rank of major and received the thanks of the Emperor. His services were in demand three years later when civil war again ravaged the country. Major Kodama was with the Imperial troops besieged in the castle of Kumamoto by the rebels of Satsuma. The garrison suffered terrible privations and was relieved with great difficulty. As soon as the siege was raised Kodama took the field once more and fought several battles. In 1889 he was gazetted major-general and in the following year was sent to Europe to study the military systems of the western nations. During the war with China he held the important appointment of Vice Minister of War. In 1900 he was appointed Governor General of the Island of Formosa, a post which he retains although in 1903 he was summoned to Tokyo to take the portfolio of Home Secretary.