February 26 Incident
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The February 26 Incident (二・二六事件 Ni-niroku jiken?) was an attempted coup d'État in Japan, on 26–29 February 1936, launched by the radical ultranationalist Kōdō-ha faction of the Imperial Japanese Army. Several leading politicians were killed, and the center of Tokyo was briefly held by the insurgents before the coup was suppressed.
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[edit] Events of February 26, 1936
In the early hours of 26 February 1936, approximately 1400 troops, primarily from the IJA 1st ("Gem") Division led by junior Army officers deployed to secure the center part of Tokyo and seized key government buildings, including the Diet building, Army Ministry headquarters, and Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters. Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Saito Makoto, and Inspector-General of Military Education, General Jotaro Watanabe, were killed.
A band of officers stormed the Kantei (the Prime Minister's official residence) and attempted to kill Prime Minister Okada Keisuke, who escaped death when the rebels killed his brother-in-law by mistake. The house of Grand Chamberlain Admiral Suzuki Kantaro, was also stormed and Suzuki was severely wounded. The residences of former Keeper of the Privy Seal Makino Nobuaki and politician Saionji Kimmochi were also attacked, but both men managed to flee. The insurgents also attempted to occupy the Imperial Palace, but were forced to simply seal it off when the Imperial Guard resisted.
The rebels approached Army Minister Kawashima Yoshiyuki with a demand that the government be dissolved and replaced with a new Cabinet headed by a general sympathetic to their cause. The rebels claimed that they were fighting in the name of the Emperor only against what they saw as a self-serving, overly political government that needed to pay more attention to the troubled domestic economy.
Military authorities were initially reluctant to use force to suppress the revolt, fearing civil war in the capital. Moreover, many high-ranking officers were supportive of the rebels' cause and urged compliance with its demands. In particular, the Tokyo Garrison itself was supportive of the attempted coup. However, there was also strong opposition to the coup by elements within the Army (the Toseiha faction) and especially by the Imperial Japanese Navy (Saito, Okada and Suzuki belonged to Navy), which dispatched warships into Tokyo Bay placing the rebels within range of the ship’s artillery.
The strongest opposition to the coup came from Emperor Showa himself, who was outraged at the murder of his close advisors. When Chief-aide-de-camp General Shigeru Honjo (once a known supporter of Kodoha leader Sadao Araki) informed him of the revolt, Hirohito immediately ordered that it be put down and referred to the officers as "rebels" (bōtō). As Honjō took their defense, the Emperor replied: "Without Our orders, Our troops have been willfully moved. Whatever they are called, they are not Our troops." Hirohito then ordered Army minister Yoshiyuki Kawashima to suppress the rebels within one hour and asked for reports from Honjō every thirty minutes.[1]
Hideki Tōjō, for himself, followed the Emperor's orders and came out against the rebels.
[edit] Events of February 27, 1936
On 27 February 1936, martial law was proclaimed in Tokyo, and reinforcements were called in.
When told by Honjō that little progress was being made in quashing the rebels, Hirohito angrily replied :" I Myself will lead the Konoe (Imperial guard) division and subdue them." [2]
[edit] Events of February 28, 1936
On 28 February 1936, the Emperor signed a command ordering the Army and Navy to suppress the revolt and to evict the rebels from their positions.
[edit] Events of February 29, 1936
On 29 February 1936, still reluctant to use force against its own men, the Army attempted a campaign of psychological persuasion, urging the enlisted men under the rebel leadership to abandon their posts, and circulating copies of the Imperial command to prove that the coup did not have the Emperor’s support. The exhausted rebel officers did nothing to deter their men from leaving, and by noon the bulk had deserted their posts and had returned to barracks. By evening, the coup had collapsed. Two officers committed seppuku rather than surrender, but the remainder were arrested.
[edit] Subsequent events
After subsequent closed military tribunals, 19 men (including radical right-wing philosopher Kita Ikki and his disciple Mitsugi Nishida), were executed and 70 others were sentenced to prison. None of the common soldiers were prosecuted, and martial law remained in effect in Tokyo until 18 July 1936.
The military took advantage of the situation to increase its political power and budget, and to impose tighter censorship and controls on civilian political activity. Prime Minister Okada was forced to resign in March, and was replaced by Kōki Hirota (under whose cabinet the Anti-Comintern Pact was signed later). Whatever its original intent, the February 26 Incident effectively resulted in a strengthening of Japanese militarism. It was an important step in the escalation to the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began the following year.
[edit] Interpretation
The story behind the February 26 Incident has always been controversial in Japan, and has been the subject of many movies and fictional stories. Famous works include Yukio Mishima's Patriotism, Jun Takami's Gekiryu (Turbulent Waves) and Takeda Taijun's Kizoku no kaidan (The Steps of the Aristocrats).
Although there is no conclusive evidence to support their position, some believe that Emperor Hirohito's younger brother, Prince Chichibu Yasuhito, was behind the February 26 Incident in an attempt to seize the throne for himself. Other conspiracy theorists have gone as far as to say that Emperor Hirohito and his cohorts actually faked the rebellion to create the perception of a need for stronger internal security measures.
The Imperial Way Faction favored consolidating Japanese hold in Manchuria, while the Toseiha favored expansion into China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. The demise of the Imperial Way Faction in the February 26 Incident led to a more aggressive change of political and military policy, leading to the Second Sino-Japanese War, and from that, the Pacific War.
[edit] List of participants
The following were among the active participants in the incident, both on the insurgents' and the imperial side:
- Sadao Araki
- Kingoro Hashimoto
- Shigeru Honjo
- Kita Ikki
- Yoshiyuki Kawashima
- Fusanosuke Kuhara
- Jiro Minami
- Mitsugi Nishida
- Hideki Tojo
[edit] In Fiction
The February 26 Incident is the subject of the historical novel "The Imperial Way" by James Melville, a British author who often writes on Japanese subjects. The book follows a researcher in 1980's Japan who digs into dark secrets of the past and uncovers the way that the 1936 events irrevocably shattered the life of the Shimada Family. Lietenant Hido Shimada, a major protagonist in the book who is a (fictional) participant in the coup attempt, is presented sympathetically - though the book does not hide the extreme nationalist and militarist content of his ideology. Many of the actual participants in these events make brief appearances in the plot.
The novella Patriotism, by Yukio Mishima also depicts the events surrounding this incident.
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