February 26 Incident

The February 26 Incident (二・二六事件) was an attempted military coup on February 26, 1936. During the 1930s the rivalry between the Army's Kodoha (Imperial Way) and Toseiha (Control) factions deepened, and radical young Kodoha officers called for removing the senior statesmen around the Emperor by force to bring about a 'Showa Restoration'. When it became known that the Tokyo-based 1st Division was to be transferred to Manchuria, they decided to act.

Early on 26 February, officers including Nonaka Shiro, Koda Kiyosada, Ando Teruzo, Kurihara Yasuhide, Muranaka Takaji and Isobe Asaichi led approximately 1,400 troops (Japanese sources give 1,483) of the 1st and 3rd Infantry Regiments, the 3rd Imperial Guards Infantry Regiment and other units in attacks on the residences of senior government officials. Finance Minister Korekiyo Takahashi, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Makoto Saito, and Inspector General of Military Education Jotaro Watanabe were assassinated, and Grand Chamberlain Suzuki Kantaro was seriously wounded. Prime Minister Okada Keisuke survived because his brother-in-law Matsuo Denzo was killed in his place, and former Lord Keeper Makino Nobuaki escaped an attack at Yugawara. Five policemen were also killed. The rebels occupied the political center of Tokyo — including the Prime Minister's Official Residence, the War Ministry area, and the Metropolitan Police Headquarters — for three days.

Emperor Hirohito firmly opposed the rebellion and ordered its suppression. Martial law was applied in Tokyo on 27 February, and on 28 February an imperial command ordering the troops back to their units was issued while loyal forces surrounded the occupied area and appealed to the soldiers to return. The rebels surrendered on February 29; Nonaka killed himself, and Kono Hisashi, who had led the attack on Makino, died by suicide on 6 March. The Okada cabinet resigned on 9 March and was succeeded by that of Hirota Koki; martial law was not lifted until 18 July.

The participants were tried by a special court-martial sitting in secret and without defence counsel. On 5 July 1936 seventeen were sentenced to death, and fifteen of them were shot on 12 July 1936. Isobe and Muranaka were held back as witnesses for other trials and were shot on 19 August 1937 together with Kita Ikki and Nishida Mitsugi, regarded as the ideological leaders, bringing the total to 19 officers and civilians executed by firing squad. The incident marked a turning point in Japanese politics: the Kodoha faction was purged, the rival Toseiha (Control) faction consolidated power, the Hirota cabinet revived the rule that the service ministers be active-duty officers, and the military's influence over civilian government was paradoxically strengthened, accelerating Japan's path toward total war. A memorial statue stands in Shibuya, Tokyo, on the site of the former execution ground, and memorial services for the dead of the incident are held each year at Kenso-ji temple in Azabu.