Tani Tateki (18 March 1837 – 13 May 1911) was a statesman of Japan and a Lieutenant-General of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Boshin War, Satsuma Rebellion, and in the Taiwan Expedition.
Biography[]
Tani Tateki was born in Kochi, Tosa Province, Japan. Loyal to the Tosa Domain, he convinced Sakamoto Ryoma and Goto Shojiro to form an alliance between the Tosa and Satsuma Domains. Tateki commanded Imperial forces in central Japan during the Boshin War, and in the 1870s he led the quelling of the Saga Rebellion, Shimpuren Rebellion, and the Satsuma Rebellion; in 1874, he led the Taiwan Expedition in response to the murder of Ryukyuan sailors by Taiwanese aboriginies. Although he advocated occupying southern China after the invasion of Taiwan, Tateki later became an anti-militarist, one of the few members of the Imperial Japanese Army to opposed Japanese expansionism. He died in 1911.