Imperial Guard (Japan)
| Imperial Guard 近衛師団 |
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The ensign of the Imperial Japanese Army
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| Active | 1867–1945 |
| Country |
 Empire of Japan
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| Allegiance | Emperor of Japan |
| Type |
 Imperial Japanese Army
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| Role |
Infantry Cavalry Artillery |
| Size | 3 Divisions 10 Regiments |
| Garrison/HQ | Tokyo |
| Engagements |
Satsuma Rebellion Sino-Japanese War Russo-Japanese War World War I World War II |
| Disbanded | 1945 |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Yamagata Aritomo, Ōyama Iwao, Kotohito Kan'in, Hajime Sugiyama, Hideki Tojo, Yasuji Okamura, Shunroku Hata, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Tomoyuki Yamashita, Masaharu Homma, Sadao Araki |
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Imperial Guard Headquarters Kōgū-Keisatsu Honbu 皇宮警察本部 |
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Seal of the Imperial Guard Headquarters of the National Police Agency.
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| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1947 |
| Preceding agency | Palace Guard Headquarters (until 1954) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| General nature |
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| Operational structure | |
| Overviewed by the National Public Safety Commission | National Police Agency |
| Sworn members | 900 (December, 2010) |
| Agency executives |
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| Units | |
| Responsible for guarding the following Imperial properties |
List
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The Japanese Imperial Guard (近衛師団 Konoe Shidan?) is an organization which is dedicated to protection of the Emperor of Japan and his family, palaces and other imperial properties. Originally formed as a unit within the Imperial Japanese Army, it was dissolved at the conclusion of World War II, before being replaced by a civilian counterpart in 1947.
It became a formal part of the Japanese National Police Agency in 1957.
When the Emperor Meiji assumed all the powers of state during the Meiji Restoration he ordered the formation of an Imperial Guard to protect himself and the Japanese imperial family. In 1867 the Imperial Guard was formed from loyal retainers and former samurai. This unit would then go on to form the nucleus of the new Imperial Japanese Army.
By the 1870s the Imperial Guard, which had been organized and trained along French Military lines, consisted of 12,000 officers and men. It was organized into the 1st Guards Infantry Brigade which had the 1st and 2nd Regiments. The 2nd Guards Brigade contained the 3rd and 4th regiments. However following the decisive German victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, the French defeat prompted the Japanese government to recruit some of the victorious German officers to retrain and reorganize the Imperial Guards on the Prussian Gardes du Corps model. The Imperial troops first saw action in the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877.
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