Sannyoayn

Sannyoayn (: ꡛꡋ ꡋꡨꡡ ꡝꡞꡋ, 27 May 1879 - 14 March 1972) was a of the Chiseian Royal Army.

Raised in a military family in southern Saramosir, Sannyoayn recieved his highschool education at Karusir Military Academy, and later graduated top of the class at Takagashiru Royal Military College in 1902. He served as part of the Chiseian expeditionary force in the First Donlander War, leading a cavalry reconnaisance mission. He served on the mainland theatre of the First Escar-Varunan War, quickly rising through the ranks to the position of Brigadier-General. His prominent opposition to the New Year Rebellion in 1924 however led to his suspension and under the new regime.

Briefly threatened with execution, he was saved by the intervention of Iha Worochi, governor of Chiseian Penemosir and a friend of his father. Consequently, he was instead demoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assigned to colonial service, heading the 3rd Miroko Cavalry Regiment and later serving as headmaster of the Kotojinso Royal Military Academy from 1929 to 1935, where he implemented a number of semi-successful reforms.

In 1935 he was tapped by Marshal Isokorkur Toya, a member of the Council of Elders, to serve as Chief of Staff for the newly formed Gwaiyūgun. Initially rejecting the appointment, he eventually accepted and formed a new headquarters in Pakawan, Minami Imoshima. His staff, consisting of many promising young officers from the Academy in Kotojinso, as well as some of his old mainland subordinates, were known as 'Sannyoayn's Children' and he himself was often affectionately nicknamed 'Iyapo' or 'Achapa' (father/uncle) by his men. Under his command, the new corps proved highly successful in the vicious fighting of the Crosswind Campaign, and rapidly grew in size and capability to be an army in its own right, complete with an independent air force.

In 1941, Sannyoayn was promoted to the rank of Marshal General and made Supreme Commander of the Southern Theatre. From 1942 - 43 he oversaw the invasion of Nanyōkuni, the reconquest of Chiseian Masuka, and later the Invasion of Hinomoto, the latter being one of the largest naval landing operations in history and among the bloodiest campaigns of the war. After the Yamataian surrender in 1944, Sannyoayn took a leading role in organising allied occupation efforts on the island, though due to mistrust from the Council of Elders the formal leadership of occupation forces would be instead bestowed upon General Shō Atsushi. Hamamoto however was arrested and dishonourably discharged in 1949, after being accused of involvement in the Wanshu Putsch against Tairō Shiba Amame, and Sannyoayn was swiftly named as his successor.

Compared to his predecessor, Sannyoayn proved unusually dedicated to repairing Hinomoto and restoring the standard of living of the people there, and enacted numerous economic and social reforms. These included the creation of the Monetary Authority of Hinomoto and the Hinoan Kin, the recreation and arming of a local police force to get the crime problem under control, carrying out educational reforms and building schools, as well as carrying out major reconstruction and public infrastructure projects. Sannyoayn believed in an independent Hinoan state in the Chiseian sphere of influence, and from 1951 began working closely with local nationalist figures to organise a rudimentary national parliament and autonomous municipal legislatures. Though popular with Hinoans, he was not well-liked within the Royal Army hierarchy, due to his frequent requisitioning of limited postwar resources for Hinomoto - though he was supported by Minister of Armaments Tō Chiasa. However, with the shrinking postwar military budget, Yamasaki's replacement as Armaments Minister in 1955, and the gradual rapprochement with Yamatai in the late 1950s, the position of both the Hinoan nationalists and Sannyoayn became increasingly tenuous. Sannyoayn himself was also getting old, and eager to eventually retire.

In 1958 Sannyoayn publicly clashed with the new Minister of War, Kuriwara Masayuki, over authorisation for Chiseian companies to take over and restore old Yamataian industry in the occupied territory to boost the local economy. Kuriwara launched a scathing attack on Sannyoayn in the Chiseian press, calling him a 'petty autocrat' and claiming he had grown senile or mad as a result of his long service in the tropics. Sannyoayn, under pressure from his family and sympathetic allies in the government, decided to tender his resignation in August 1959, and not long thereafter secured his honourable discharge from service. Returning to his native Saramosir for the first time since the '20s, he settled with his wife and daughters on a family estate in Apasiri, where he lived until his death in 1972.