Seishirō Itagaki

General was a Japanese military officer and politician who served as a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and War Minister from 1938 to 1939. He was a disciple of Kanji Ishiwara and his ideas were strongly influenced by his apocalyptic Buddhist beliefs, being firmly convinced of the idea of a "Final War" in which Japan would unite the entire world into a single nation, resulting in an era of true peace, regeneration and harmony.

Itagaki was a main conspirator behind the Mukden Incident and held prestigious chief of staff posts in the Kwantung Army and China Expeditionary Army during the early Second Sino–Japanese War. Itagaki became War Minister but fell from grace after Japanese defeat in the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts. Thereafter, he served as general for several field armies until surrendering Japanese forces in Southeast Asia in 1945.

Itagaki was ultimately convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and executed in 1948.