Taisho Political Crisis

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The Taisho Political Crisis (大正政変, Taisho Seihen^?) was a popular protest movement which overthrew the administration of Prime Minister Katsura Taro in 1913.

In December 1912, the administration of Prime Minister Saionji Kinmochi was forced to resign due to the refusal of the Imperial Japanese Army to replace former Army Minister Uehara Yusaku. General Katsura Taro was then selected to become Prime Minister for a 3rd term, although his authoritarian manner was very unpopular with the public. When the Imperial Japanese Navy threatened to withhold appointing a Navy Minister unless its demands for a increased budget for new battleships was met, Katsura had an Imperial Edict issued ordering the Navy to furnish a minister.

The opposition political parties (particularly the Rikken Seiyukai and Rikken Kokuminto) saw this as proof of Katsura’s lack of commitment to constitutional government, and joined forces with journalists and businessmen to form the ‘Movement to Protect Constitutional Government’. Katsura responded by suspending the Diet on three occasions, and by forming his own political party, the Rikken Doshikai. However, popular protest spread, and on 10 February 1913 thousands of protestors rioted in Tokyo, threatening the Diet building, setting fire to police stations and vandalizing pro-government newspaper offices. Katsura resigned the following day, marking the first time a popular movement had toppled a government in Japan.

Ironically, it was the ability of the military to withhold appointment of Army or Navy ministers that was the greatest achilles heel of the Meiji Constitution, and it was this power, more than any single other issue, which led to military domination over civilian government in the 1930s and 1940s.