He was born in the castle town of Hiroshima, the third son of the Hiroshima domain samurai Katō Shichirobei. His father was a low-ranking samurai with a small stipend, but a learned man who taught at the domain school. From childhood he studied at the domain school, the Shūdōkan, growing up in a home that valued learning. Here lay the roots of his later calm judgment.
He entered the naval cadet school that trained officers, later the Naval Academy. In the building of the new Meiji state, the navy guarding the seas had an important role. Through days of hard training and study, he would grow into a man who would carry Japan's navy on his shoulders.
He graduated from the Naval Academy second in his class, behind the top student Shimamura Hayao. Shimamura later held important posts in the navy, and the two became comrades supporting the navy of their generation. A few years later he was also chosen as one of the first students of the Naval War College, which trained senior officers.
In the First Sino-Japanese War he served as gunnery officer of the cruiser Yoshino and distinguished himself in the battle of the Yellow Sea against the great Qing battleships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. As the officer in charge of the guns, he learned firsthand the harshness of real naval combat. The experience greatly nourished his later work at the center of the navy.
In the Russo-Japanese War he became chief of staff of the Combined Fleet and faced the Battle of Tsushima. With commander Tōgō Heihachirō and staff officer Akiyama Saneyuki, he stood on the bridge of the battleship Mikasa and, it is said, refused to take shelter even as shells flew, continuing to encourage the men. The Japanese navy won a great victory in this battle.
After the war he became vice minister of the navy and managed the organization at the Navy Ministry. He then served as commander of the Kure naval district and of the First Fleet, rising through the key posts of the navy. As a man who knew both battlefield command and administrative work, he enjoyed deep trust from those around him.
He became navy minister in the second Ōkuma cabinet and was promoted to admiral. He continued as navy minister in the cabinets of Terauchi Masatake, Hara Takashi and Takahashi Korekiyo, leading the navy for nearly eight years. While advancing plans for a large fleet, he also paid attention to balancing them against the nation's finances.
He attended the Washington Conference as Japan's chief plenipotentiary. Foreign reporters mocked him as the candle for his thin frame, but he accepted the American proposal for warship ratios and showed a positive stance toward disarmament. As a result, it is said, he was instead praised as a great candle lighting a world in crisis.
He became prime minister and formed a cabinet of his own. In line with the Washington Conference agreements, he carried out naval disarmament and opened the way for army reductions. He also ended the long-running Siberian Intervention and withdrew the troops. Though a military man, he led the country toward cutting armaments.
While still prime minister, a grave illness worsened, and he died at his home in Tokyo at the age of sixty-two. Eight days later the Great Kantō Earthquake struck, and Japan faced this great disaster without a prime minister. He was posthumously made a fleet admiral, and a statue of him still stands in his hometown of Hiroshima.
Tōgō HeihachirōAkiyama SaneyukiTerauchi MasatakeTakahashi KorekiyoHara Takashi
Inukai TsuyoshiHara TakashiOzaki YukioKatō TakaakiMakino TomitarōNagaoka HantarōMinakata KumagusuNishida Kitarō
People of the Taishō period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.