The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its tsūshōgō code name was the , and its military symbol was 16D. The 16th Division was one of four new infantry divisions raised by the Imperial Japanese Army in the closing stages of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). With Japan's limited resources towards the end of that conflict, the entire IJA was committed to combat in Manchuria, leaving not a single division to guard the Japanese home islands from attack. The 16th Division was initially raised from men in the area surrounding Kyoto 18 July 1905 under the command of Lieutenant General Yamanaka Nobuyoshi. Action The 16th Division was immediately deployed to Manchuria, but the peace process was already underway since 6 August 1905, culminating with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth on 5 September 1905. As a consequence, the 16th division could not see any combat. On 28 March 1907 the divisional headquarters was established in what is now the city of Takaishi, Osaka, but was relocated to Kyoto 30 October 1908. The divisions were sent thrice to Manchuria to perform a garrison duties - in 1919, 1929 and 1934. While in Kyoto, the division was called upon to provide emergency relief efforts during massive flooding of the Kamo River 28 June 1935. For the three days, sappers from the division helped shore up dikes and construct temporary bridges, while over a 1,000 men assisted with traffic control and rescue efforts at the request of the Kyoto city government. In July 1937, open hostilities broke out against China and the Second Sino-Japanese War commenced. The 16th Division, under the command of Lieutenant General Kesago Nakajima, was assigned to the Second Army, as part of the Northern China Area Army. The division participated in the Second Shanghai Incident(August–November 1937), Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation (August–December 1937), the Battle of Nanjing (December 1937), the Battle of Xuzhou (January 1938) and the Battle of Wuhan (July–October 1938). It was thus one of the Japanese military units implicated in the Nanjing Massacre. In December 1938, the 16th division was incorporated into the 11th army. The division was demobilized and returned to Japan in August 1939. At that time, the division was re-organized into a triangular division, with the 38th Infantry Regiment transferred to become the core of the newly formed 29th Division. The reformed 16th division was mobilized and permanently re-located to Manchukuo in