Born in Suo Province, Kodama fought in the Boshin Civil War 1868, the Saga
Rebellion 1873, and the Satsuma Rebellion 1877. After studying in Germany,
as head of the Army Staff College, he worked for the adoption of the German
military system. He served in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and, afterward,
as Governor-General of Taiwan. Kodama was army minister in the fourth
Ito Hirobumi cabinet (1900) and in the succeeding
Katsura Taro cabinet, in which he was also minister of both home affairs and education.
Promoted to full general in 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05
he served as chief of general staff of the Manchurian Army and assisted
in the capture of Port Arthur. In 1906 he was named chief of the Army General
Staff.
