He was born in the village of Kawashima in the Abu district, an area neighboring the Hagi Castle (present-day Kawashima, Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) as the first son of Aritoshi YAMAGATA, a chugen in charge of Kuramoto, the merchant of the daimyo's warehouse, and also a servant of a bushi family (a rank lower than foot soldier but not a bushi rank) and Matsuko YAMAGATA, from the domain of Choshu.
萩城下近郊の阿武郡川島村（現・山口県萩市川島）に、長州藩の蔵元付武家奉公人（足軽より低い身分で武士身分ではない）山縣有稔・松子の長男として生まれる。