Kotohito Kanin
Prince Kotohito Kanin was adopted son of Emperor Komei, a professional officer of the Imperial Japanese Army), and a participant in many Army and Palalce intrigues.[1]
He received his military trainin in France. In 1916, he led an effort to assassinate Chang Tso-Lin and occupy Manchuria. On Prince Hirohito's 1921 trip to Europe, he showed him the battlefields of the continent. He and his proteges Yoshiki Tatekawa and Kuniake Koiso worked with the Three Crows and Eleven Reliables in recruiting agents for the Emperor.
He was Chief of Staff (Imperial Japanese Army), (23 Dec 1931 - 3 Oct 1940), during the conquest of Manchuria, and into the Second Sino-Japanese War.
After leaving the Army in 1940, he was a key adviser to Emperor Hirohito and close adviser until his death in May 1945.
- ↑ David Bergamini (1971), Japan's Imperial Conspiracy, Morrow, p. 1091