The February 26 Incident — The Young Officers' Uprising and the Age of the Military Sword

Background — The Kōdōha–Tōseiha Rivalry and the Stagnation of the Shōwa Depression

Within the Japanese Army of the early Shōwa period, there was a rivalry between two factions: the "Kōdōha" (Imperial Way faction), which championed direct imperial rule and national renovation, and the "Tōseiha" (Control faction), which favored building a total-war system. Against a backdrop of rural devastation during the Shōwa Depression, economic hardship in urban areas, and growing distrust of party politics, some young officers close to the Kōdōha came to see the existing political establishment, the zaibatsu, and the senior court advisors as "evil men surrounding the throne," and increasingly embraced the radical idea of removing them by force to bring about a national reconstruction under direct imperial rule (the so-called "Shōwa Restoration").

Amid this atmosphere, in Shōwa 10 (1935), Mazaki Jinzaburō, a central figure of the Kōdōha, was removed from his post as Inspector General of Military Education. In response, Lieutenant Colonel Aizawa Saburō cut down Nagata Tetsuzan, chief of the Military Affairs Bureau and a Tōseiha figure, with a sword, in what is known as the "Aizawa Incident." Factional conflict within the Army grew ever more acute. The planned dispatch of the Tokyo-based 1st Division to Manchuria in Shōwa 11 (1936) is also said to have heightened the frustration of Kōdōha officers, who feared they would miss the opportunity to rise.

Going back further, on May 15, Shōwa 7 (1932), young naval officers had already attacked the Prime Minister's official residence and assassinated Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in the "May 15 Incident." From that event onward, the practice of party-led cabinets effectively came to an end. It has also been pointed out that the relatively light sentences handed down to the defendants of the May 15 Incident, which drew public sympathy, led the officers of the later February 26 Incident to mistakenly believe that armed action in the name of the "Shōwa Restoration" might be tolerated.

The Uprising — The Predawn Attacks of February 26

In the predawn hours of February 26, Shōwa 11 (1936), in snow-covered Tokyo, approximately 20 young officers, including Captain Nonaka Shirō, Captain Andō Teruzō, and Lieutenant Kurihara Yasuhide, rose in unison, leading approximately 1,500 non-commissioned officers and enlisted men mobilized from the 1st Infantry Regiment, the 3rd Infantry Regiment, and the 3rd Imperial Guards Infantry Regiment. Divided into several assault groups, the rebel units seized in quick succession the Prime Minister's Official Residence, the Army Ministry, the Army General Staff Headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the offices of the Asahi Shimbun, forcibly taking control of the Nagatachō district of Tokyo.

The Assassinations — Takahashi Korekiyo, Saito Makoto, and Watanabe Jotaro

Each assault group simultaneously attacked the residences of senior government and court officials. Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo was attacked while asleep at his private residence in Akasaka. He was shot with a pistol and then, while still alive, was cut down by the officers' military swords. Takahashi had sought to place some restraint on military expansion through fiscal and monetary policy, and it is said that for this reason he became a target of intense hostility among the young officers. Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Saito Makoto was also shot at his residence and died. Inspector General of Military Education Watanabe Jotaro was killed at his home in Suginami by machine-gun fire and a bayonet attack, in front of his nine-year-old daughter. Prime Minister Okada Keisuke escaped by hiding in a closet in a maid's room within the official residence, but his brother-in-law, Matsuo Denzō, was mistakenly killed in his place. Grand Chamberlain Suzuki Kantarō was also shot and severely wounded, but survived. Former Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Makino Nobuaki was attacked at the Kōfūsō, his lodgings in Yugawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, by an assault unit made up mainly of civilians. His police guard, Constable Minagawa Yoshitaka, returned fire to buy time, and during that interval Makino escaped through a back door. The building was then set on fire, and Constable Minagawa was killed in the exchange. The attack at Yugawara was the only actual assault to take place outside Tokyo, and it shows that the plot's scope extended well beyond the capital.

The Sword of the Era — The Type 94 Guntō and Imperial Restorationism

In Shōwa 9 (1934), just two years before the incident, the Army had introduced a new standard officer's sword, the "Type 94 Guntō." It replaced the Western-style saber mounting with a mounting modeled on the traditional Japanese tachi. This reflected the trend of the era, in which rising militarism and ethnic nationalism favored Japanese designs over a uniform Western style. Older saber-type military swords also remained in use, but by the time of the incident the changeover to the new guntō was underway. The fact that Takahashi Korekiyo was cut down with a sword after being shot shows that these guntō were not merely ceremonial ornaments, but weapons that officers carried and used in practice. The spirit of the young officers, who upheld imperial loyalty and national essence, and the ideological background of the guntō reform, which sought a return to the tachi-style mounting, are both said to have strongly reflected the distinctive spirit of the early Shōwa period, which aspired to a return to "what is Japanese."

Four Days to Suppression — The Imperial Order and the Rebels' Surrender

In the early stage of the uprising, some elements of the Army leadership showed a degree of sympathy for the rebel units, and there was even a move to formally recognize the rebel units as an official security force. However, Emperor Hirohito was enraged upon learning of the assassinations of senior officials. He is said to have told his aides, "I will personally lead the Imperial Guards Division to suppress this rebellion," thereby making his firm resolve to suppress it clear. On February 27, martial law was proclaimed in Tokyo, and a Martial Law Headquarters under Commander Kashii Kōhei was established. The rebel units were gradually driven into a position where they were surrounded and designated as an "insurgent army." On the morning of the 29th, a large balloon bearing the words "The Imperial Order has come down — do not raise arms against the regimental colors" was raised. Leaflets calling for surrender were scattered from aircraft, and through the radio broadcast "An Appeal to the Soldiers," NCOs and enlisted men were repeatedly urged to return to their original units. With the imperial suppression order (hōchoku meirei) issued, the rebel units lost all justification for their actions. By that afternoon, most of the troops had returned to their original units, and the uprising ended after just four days. Some officers took their own lives on the spot, and others attempted suicide but did not succeed.

The Special Court-Martial and the Executions

After the incident, the officers held responsible as ringleaders were tried by a closed special court-martial that permitted no public hearings, no appointment of defense counsel, and no appeal. This special form of trial, which differed from an ordinary court-martial, was established so that the proceedings could move quickly given the political gravity of the incident. In July Shōwa 11 (1936), a dozen or so officers at the center of the uprising were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad at the Tokyo Army Prison. The civilian thinkers Kita Ikki and Nishida Mitsugi, who were said to have ideologically influenced the rebel officers, were separately investigated and, in August Shōwa 12 (1937) of the following year, were also executed by firing squad. Mazaki Jinzaburō, the senior Kōdōha figure said to have contributed to the root cause of the incident, was indicted for abetting the rebellion but was acquitted.

Lasting Impact — The Military's Expanding Political Voice and the Road to War

The suppression of the February 26 Incident purged the Kōdōha from the Army, and from then on the Tōseiha held the initiative in Army leadership. Ironically, however, under the banner of the "purification of the military" (shukugun), the Army strengthened its influence over government and cabinet personnel after this incident. Combined with the system requiring active-duty officers to serve as war and navy ministers, which was revived that same year, the influence of party politics was further diminished. The Hirota Kōki cabinet formed in the wake of the incident was compelled to form its composition in accordance with the military's wishes, and Japan thereafter turned decisively toward armaments expansion and a more active continental policy. The February 26 Incident is positioned in modern Japanese history as one of the decisive turning points in which Japan shifted from party politics toward a military-led state structure and prepared the wartime system that led to the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War.

The guntō culture symbolized by the Type 94 guntō worn by the rebel officers continued until Japan's defeat in the Pacific War. Immediately after the defeat, however, under the GHQ sword confiscation policy, large numbers of Japanese swords, including guntō, faced the danger of confiscation and destruction. That a guntō culture which had spread along with the rise of imperial-restorationist ultranationalism met, within barely ten years, the opposite fate of confiscation as an object of disarmament can be called one of the great turning points in the history of modern Japanese swords.