Tsukiyama Tomoko

Tsukiyama Tomoko 月山 知子
Imperial Grand Marshal of Yamatai
In office 9 June 1926 – 9 February 1944
Monarch	Kiyono
Preceded by	Sugiyama Kuniaki
Succeeded by	Takagi Hidenori
Minister of the Treasury
In office 30 January 1922 – 8 June 1926
Preceded by	Oda Momoko
Succeeded by	Abe Shinzo
Personal details
Born	月山 知子 Tsukiyama Tomoko 19 February 1870 Yuki, Nagato
Died	9 February 1944 (Age 74) Empress Kayako Memorial Complex, Heian
Nationality	Yamatai
Spouse(s)	Morito Hideki
Children	Tsukiyama Momoko Tsukiyama Hirofumi
Alma mater	Kuromorimine Military Academy
Religion	Michi

Tsukiyama Tomoko (月山知子, 19 February 1870 – 9 February 1944) was a Yamataian politician and general in the Yamatai Imperial Army who served as the eighth Imperial Grand Marshal of Yamatai from 1926 to 1944. Tsukiyama led Yamatai before and during much of the Second Escar-Varunan War, but did not survive to see the end of the war. During her years in power, Tsukiyama consolidated power and ruled as a dictator, causing major changes in Yamataian society, ideology, and governance.

Tsukiyama was born on 19 February, 1870, to a wealthy military-industrial family in Yuki. She joined the Imperial Army in 1888, enlisting in the Medical Corps due to the gender norms at the time. Tsukiyama was trained as a medical officer, but later became an administrative staff officer, serving both in the Medical Corps and the Ministry of the Treasury. During her time in the Ministry of the Treasury, she began building a wide patronage network within the entire military through her ability to control the allocation of resources and funding. In 1918, Tsukiyama was promoted to Lieutenant-General and appointed as the Commander of the Imperial Army Medical Corps, becoming the first Yamataian woman to attain a General-grade rank.

Just two years later in 1920, Tsukiyama became the Vice-Minister of the Treasury under her long-time mentor Tanaka Rikichi, who was aiming to consolidate political power after the First Escar-Varunan War. Using her patronage network, Tsukiyama was able to undermine Tanaka and in 1922 was appointed the Minister of the Treasury, also attaining the rank of General. Over the next four years, Tsukiyama used her position as the Minister of the Treasury to amass a large amount of power, creating conflict between the Imperial Army and the Imperial Navy and expanding her patronage network further. In 1926, Tsukiyama was elected as the Imperial Grand Marshal.

As Imperial Grand Marshal, Tsukiyama enacted numerous political changes. Prior to her term, the Imperial Grand Marshal was simply a ceremonial post granted to the representative of the Imperial High Council, which governed through a directorial system. By filling the Imperial High Council with her closest supporters, Tsukiyama was able to gradually attain dictatorial control of the government. The infighting she created between the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy and her encouragement of factionalism within the government ensured that nobody was able to challenge her position. With power consolidated, Tsukiyama began carrying out various social, economic, and political reforms.

A firm supporter of Izoku Kyowa, Tsukiyama sought the unification of the Yashiman Sphere through force of arms. From 1929, Yamatai resumed the expansion of its military-industrial complex, which had been halted after the First Escar-Varunan War. Tsukiyama also attempted to end the strict gender roles in Yamataian society through various policies, but was not very successful. With Yamatai on an irreversible course towards a renewed conflict with Chisei, Tsukiyama's regime created several plans for the military conquest of Chisei. However, the start of the Second Escar-Varunan War occurred with a surprise Chiseian invasion of the Yamataian New Territories.

During the war, Tsukiyama was not involved with military operations and planning as she did not consider herself adept at military strategy. The allowed the military leaders she entrusted to oversee the war to attain political power and their own patronage networks, factors which would come into play after Tsukiyama's death. On 5 February 1944, Tsukiyama suddenly suffered a stroke and died four days later on 9 February. Following her death, a power struggle quickly occurred in the Imperial High Council to succeed her, hastening the end of Yamatai's involvement in the war.

Tsukiyama is widely considered to be one of the most significant figures of modern Yamatai, responsible for major social and governmental changes in Yamatai, both directly and indirectly. She is both reviled and beloved by various political groups across Yamatai, Chisei, Hinomoto, and Shojin.

Early life

Tsukiyama Tomoko was born in Yuki on 19 February 1870, as the second daughter and third child of Tsukiyama Hiroki, a colonel in the Yamatai Imperial Army, and Tsukiyama Yuno, the daughter of a businessman. Tsukiyama's father Hiroki was in command of the Okayama Arsenal, an arms manufacturing factory owned by the Imperial Army that, as was typical for the era, also produced some civilian goods on the side, bringing in a steady income. The Tsukiyama family was wealthy and respectable, and lived in a large mansion on the outskirts of Yuki.

Tsukiyama had an education typical of the Imperialist era, and was trained to believe that she was a crucial component of an infallible whole, and that the greatest honour for a Yamataian person was to die for the Empress and the nation. As a youth, Tsukiyama was known for her stubbornness, lack of a sense of humour, and for being a perfectionist prodigy also skilled in martial arts. Due to her high intelligence, perfectionism, and clear favouritism from her father, she often got into fights with her siblings. In 1886, when she was ten years old, her oldest brother Tsukiyama Hirofumi was killed in action during the Phuong Hoa Rebellion in Yamataian Nanyōkuni, driving her mother into a depression.

In 1899, Tsukiyama entered the Kuromorimine Military Academy. When she graduated as the top cadet in March 1905, she was commissioned as a Junior Lieutenant in the Yamatai Imperial Army's artillery corps. In 1909, she married Morito Hideki, a fellow officer in the 34th Artillery Division, with whom she had two children. Angered by the ongoing attempts by Chisei to contain Yamataian colonial expansion, particularly in various ongoing bush wars in Valeya, Tsukiyama was one of many vocal supporters of the so-called "Homeland Strike Strategy", a plan to end Chiseian interference once and for all by invading Chisei itself, considered near-impossible at the time.

Early military career

Tsukiyama spent the early years of her military career in the 34th Artillery Division, seeing no action in the Valeyan Bush Wars until late 1917, when she spent a few weeks in Valeya as an artillery observer for the 7th Cavalry Division. She, along with thousands of Yamataian troops, were urgently recalled to Yamatai shortly after due to the outbreak of the First Escar-Varunan War and the invasion of the Chiseian mainland.

Imperial Grand Marshal and the Endwar

Following her

Wakizashi Night was done by Tsukiyama to eradicate her rivals and stage the nation for war.