After serving in the Imperial Guard, he was sent in 1880 to France for four years of training at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, and from there to Germany.

And furthermore, his Satsuma background provided for a balance to Nogi's Chōshū origins, which was thought necessary in an army still divided by regional loyalties.

However, Ijichi clashed with Nogi on several occasions during the Port Arthur campaign over the extremely high rate of casualties the Japanese forces were taking, and the long months without appreciable progress against the heavily fortified Russian positions.

The Japanese command blamed Ijichi, rather than Nogi, for incompetence, and for continuing to order ineffective human wave attacks against Russian positions.

[1] Due to these issues, Nogi replaced him as chief of staff after the fall of Port Arthur, and refused him a position in the 3rd Army at the Battle of Mukden, reassigning him back to the Japanese home islands to assume command of the coastal artillery at Tokyo Bay.