Toranomon Incident

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Toranomon Incident (虎ノ門事件, Toranomon Jiken^?) was an assassination attempt on the then Prince Regent Hirohito of Japan on 27 December 1927 by communist agitator Namba Daisuke.

The incident took place at the Toranomon intersection between the Akasaka Palace and the Diet of Japan. Crown Prince and Regent Hirohito was on his way to the opening of the 48th Session of the Imperial Diet on 27 December 1927. Namba's attempt was motivated partly by his leftist ideology, and a strong desire to avenge the death of Kotoku Shusui, who had been executed for his alleged role in the High Treason Incident of 1910. During his trial (which was held under closed doors), Namba also claimed that he was angry with the governments complicity in the brutal slayings of Koreans, socialists and anarchists in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake.

Although Namba claimed that he was rational (a view agreed upon in the court records), he was proclaimed insane to the public, be nevertheless sentenced to death on 13 November 1924, and executed two days later.

Prime Minister Yamamoto Gonnohyoe took responsibility for the lapse in security and resigned along with his cabinet and a number of other high officials. The Toranomon Incident was cited later by the government as one of the justifications for the Peace Preservation Law of 1925.