High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Baron Takeji Nara was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. Nara was born in what is now part of Kanuma city, Tochigi Prefecture to a farming family. He attended military preparatory schools as a youth, and graduated from the 11th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1889 as a second lieutenant in the artillery. In 1893, he attended the Army Artillery School, and the participated in the First Sino-Japanese War from 1894-1895. After the war, he returned to the Army Staff College, graduating from the 13th class in December 1899. He subsequently served in a number of staff positions within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, and was send to Germany as a military attaché.