Imperial Colors Incident
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Imperial Colors Incident (錦旗革命事件 Kinki Kakumei Jiken?), also known as the October Incident (十月事件 Jūgatsu Jiken?) was an abortive coup d'état attempt in Japan, on 21 October 1931, launched by the Sakura Kai secret society within the Imperial Japanese Army, aided by civilian ultranationalist groups.
Having failed to establish to replace the government with a totalitarian state socialist military dictatorship in the March Incident of March 1931, Lieutenant Colonel Kingoro Hashimoto of the Sakura Kai and his ultranationalist civilian supporters, including Shumei Okawa resolved to try again in October 1931.
Soon after the outbreak of fighting in Manchuria, Captain Isamu Cho returned secretly to Japan (without orders) from North China to lead the plot. He was able to recruit the support of 120 members of the Sakurai Kai, ten companies of troops from the Imperial Guards and ten bomber aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The main elements of the plot included:
1. Key statesmen and officials such as Prime Minister Reijiro Wakatsuki, Grand Chamberlain Makoto Saito, Prince Kimmochi Saionji, and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Makino Nobuaki, and Foreign MinisterKijuro Shidehara were to be assassinated.
2. The Imperial Palace, Metropolitan Police Headquarters, and other key government buildings were to be seized by troops loyal to the Sakura Kai.
3. A new cabinet would be formed under the auspices of General Sadao Araki, chief of the radical Kodaha faction. The new government would ban political parties, and would consolidate the recent territorial gains of Japan in Manchuria.
Certain younger elements came to doubt their leaders, however, and seceded from the plot. In addition there were leaks which reached War Minister, General Jiro Minami. The latter requested General Sadao Araki to pacify the malcontents. Sadao Araki there upon attempted to reason with Kingoro Hashimoto and Isamu Cho, but they refused to abandon their scheme and were arrested by the Kempeitai on 17 October 1931.
The punishments handed out were even milder than for the previous the March Incident, as General Minami excused the plot as simply an excess of patriotic zeal. Hashimoto Kingoro was sentenced to 20 days house arrest, Isamu Cho to 10 days, and the other ringleaders were simply transferred.
The October Incident, also known more elegantly as the "Imperial Colors Incident" thus ended in apparent failure, and resulted in the dissolution of the Sakura Kai. However, the lightness of the punishments only encouraged more attempted military intervention in the government, cumulating with the February 26 Incident of 1936.
