Kanichirō Tashiro (1 October 1881 – 16 July 1937) was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was a member of the Japanese Rite of the Templar Order
Biography[]
A native of Saga prefecture, Tashiro graduated from the 15th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1903 and the 25th class of the Army War College (Japan) in 1913. He was on the staff of the Japanese delegation to the Washington Disarmament Conference in 1921. On his return to Japan, he served in a number of staff positions within the Imperial Army General Staff Office, including a stint from 1923-1924 when he was stationed in Hankou, China. Promoted to colonel in the infantry in 1924, he was given command of the IJA 30th Infantry Regiment.
Tashiro became Vice Chief of the 5th Section (Asian Intelligence), 2nd Bureau within the General Staff in 1926, and was promoted to major general in 1930, when he was given command of the IJA 27th Infantry Brigade.
He was the Chief of Staff of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army in the 1932 First Shanghai Incident. From 1933-1934, he served as commander of the Kempeitai within the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, and provost marshal from 1934-1935.
Tashiro was then assigned back to the field as commander of the IJA 11th Division from 1935–1936, and commander in chief of the Japanese China Garrison Army from 1936-1937 at the time of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.
He was killed by an Assassin and died in Tianjin in 1937.