February 26 Incident
The
February 26 Incident (二・二六事件
Ni-niroku jiken) was an uprising against the
Japanese government that took place in
1936. It was a major coup attempt by the
Imperial Way Faction, a last ditch effort to seize the government. Groups of assassins killed or attempted to kill the upper leadership of the government and seize control of key buildings. Fourteen hundred junior military officers took up arms in
Tokyo, occupying the
Diet, army ministry, and police headquarters. Three cabinet members were killed, including finance minister
Takahashi Korekiyo. A band of officers stormed the
Kantei (the prime minister's residence) and attempted to kill Prime Minister
Okada Keisuke, Admiral
Suzuki Kantaro, and Prince
Saionji Kimmochi. Most of the city ended up effectively under rebel control.
The rebels were fighting in the name of the Emperor against what they saw as a self-serving, overly political government that needed to pay more attention to the troubled domestic economy.
Hirohito responded by ordering the army and navy to suppress the revolt. Elements of the armed services interested in the conquest of Asia saw this as an opportunity to use the rebel's actions as an excuse for the military to seize greater power over the government. On the 29th, both services reported that they had captured all the rebels, and either executed them or demanded that they commit
ritual suicide.
Martial law was imposed until July, and Okada was forced to resign in March, making way for a new premier,
Hirota Koki (who ended up signing Japan's
alliance with Germany).
After some initial success, the coup started to unravel as the Emperor, General
Hideki Tojo and surprisingly
Shigeru Honjo (once a known supporter of
Sadao Araki) acted against the rebels. The Emperor showed unexpected firmness. After a brief political crisis and stalling from the military, the rebels were forced to surrender. In the aftermath, many radical officers were retired and the coup leaders were tried and executed.
Whatever the motive, February 26 wiped out the pro-peace factions in Japan and placed the entire country on a solid militarist footing. It was an important step in the escalation in 1937 of the
Second Sino-Japanese War, towards
Shanghai and the
Nanjing massacre.
The story behind the February 26 Incident is controversial in Japan, and has been the subject of many movies and fictional stories. Although there is no conclusive evidence to support their position, many believe that Hirohito's younger brother,
Prince Chichibu Yasuhito, was behind the revolt. Some conspiracy theorists have gone as far as to say that
Hirohito and his cohorts staged the rebellion to create the perception of a need for stronger internal security measures.
*
List of active participants in the February 26 incident*
Commentary article in the Philippine Daily Enquirer* Excerpt from
Yukio Mishima's
Patriotism, a fictional account of 2-26
