Military Academy Incident
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The Military Academy Incident (士官学校事件 Shikan Gakko Jiken?), also known as the November Incident (十一月事件 Juichigatsu Jiken ?) was an attempted coup d'état that took place in Japan in November 1934. It was one of a sequence of similar conspiracies for a 'Shōwa Restoration' led by radical elements with the Imperial Japanese Army.
The failed coup attempts in 1931 (the March Incident and the Imperial Colors Incident) by the Sakura Kai, a secret society within the junior ranks of the Imperial Japanese Army officer corps promoting a vision of a militaristic totalitarian, state socialist system as an alternative to the current corrupt party politics dominated democratic government, inspired similar plans by other groups within the military.
In 1934, a group of five Imperial Japanese Army Academy cadets led by two army officers belonging to the radical militarist Kodaha faction at the academy, formulated their own plan for overthrowing the government. However, in early November 1934, Sato, one of the cadets, informed the government authorities about the plan and its Kodaha involvement.
Forewarned, Captain Tsuji Masanobu, company commander at the Military Academy, arranged the arrest of the principals by the Kempeitai on 20 November 1934, ending the possible coup d'état before it could even get started. For lack of evidence, the accused could not be convicted; but the five cadets were expelled from the Academy in March 1935, and the two officers, Muranaka and Isobe were suspended for six months from duty in April 1935.
The "Kodoha" believed that Sato was a spy for Captain Tsuji, and that the whole affair was a trap laid by their rivals, the Toseiha faction to discredit General Jinzaburo Mazaki, the Inspector-General of Military Education. The incident led to General Mazaki’s dismissal, and the murder of his successor, General Tetsuzan Nagata, by a Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Aizawa, a Kodoha officer. (See Aizawa Incident).
When the suspended Muranaka and Isobe later distributed pamphlets entitled "Remonstrance for the Restoration of Military Discipline" (otherwise known as "Views on the Housecleaning of the Army"), they were dismissed from the service outright in August 1935.
The "Military Academy Incident" was among the factors that led to the subsequent February 26 Incident.
