About Akiyama Yoshifuru
Akiyama Yoshifuru (秋山 好古; February 9, 1859 – November 4, 1930) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and was considered the father of modern Japanese cavalry. He was the older brother of Vice Admiral Akiyama Saneyuki. == Biography == === Early life === Born as the third son to a bankrupt samurai in the Matsuyama Domain, Iyo Province (modern Ehime Prefecture), Akiyama worked as a fire stoker and janitor in a local public bathhouse as a child. Akiyama entered the Rikugun Shikan Gakkō (the forerunner of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy) in 1877. He went on to attend the Army Staff College, and was sent as a military attaché to France to study cavalry tactics and techniques. He was the only Japanese officer sent to study at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr at a time when the rest of the Japanese Army had turned to the Imperial German Army as its model and was being taught by instructors from Germany. Akiyama was often mistaken for a European student by many foreign instructors such as Jakob Meckel while at the Japanese Army Academy. He was reputed to be a plain-living person who had a bowl of rice with slices of pickles for his meal. However, he spent his money on sake and was known to be a heavy drinker. === Military career === Akiyama was active in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 as a cavalry regimental commander in the IJA 1st Division, and served with Japanese expeditionary forces in the subsequent Boxer Rebellion with the IJA 5th Division.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.