Akiyama Saneyuki was born on January 7, 1868 in the place currently called Okachi-machi, in Matsuyama City. He was the younger brother of Akiyama Yoshifuru, and was himself the fifth son of Hisataka Akiyama, a retainer of the Matsuyama clan. He went on to graduate at the top of his class at the Naval Academy. He became a staff officer of the country’s Combined Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War, and made a significant contribution to the defeat of the Baltic Fleet in the Battle of Tsushima. He sent a telegram at that time, which became famous and is still well known: “The weather is fine, but the waves are high.” Togo Heihachiro, Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, praised Akiyama as “brimming with wisdom and strategy”, because he had thought through and created the winning tactics of the Japanese Navy. Akiyama Saneyuki died at the age of 49, on February 4, 1918.