March Incident
The March incident (Japanese三月 事件, Sangatsu jiken ) was the failed attempt of a military coup in the Empire of Japan in March 1931. It was carried out by the radical Sakurakai, a secret society within the Imperial Japanese Army and supported by various civil, ultra- nationalist groups.
History
The planning of the March incident can be traced back in the autumn of 1930, when Lieutenant Colonel Hashimoto Kingoro and Captain Isamu Chō of the Imperial Japanese Army Sakurakai ( Cherry Blossom Society) founded. The cherry blossom was symbolic of self-sacrifice, and was used by the military, to symbolize the passing life of a soldier. The stated goal of Sakurakai were political reforms to eliminate the corrupt in their eyes, party politics and the introduction of a totalitarian state socialist military government. The new government should redeploy the unfair wealth distribution of the profits of the Zaibatsu and off corrosive effects on public morals Japan ..
After the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi contemplated Prince Saionji Kimmochi and Lord Privy Seal Makino Nobuaki the General Ugaki Kazushige as the new Prime Minister, later decided, however, that a civilian at that time was the best for Japan. This decision caused a great uproar within the militarist faction of the Imperial Japanese Army and several leading generals was approached by Hashimoto and his Sakurakai and confirmed it is to plan a military coup to bring Ugaki to power.
Hashimoto's plan included a three-phase program:
The plan was supported by a 200,000 -yen donation of Tokugawa Yoshichika, a far-right member of the Kizokuin, son of the last daimyo of Nagoya and second cousin to Emperor Hirohito.
Ultra rights, civil organizations under the leadership of Kamei Kan'ichiro and Ōkawa Shumei stoked from the end of February 1931 riots in front of the Japanese parliament in Tokyo. Poor planning, however, led that did not participate in the expected masses in the unrest, which it did not come to revolt. Hashimoto sat down on March 3 letter sent by General Ugaki combined and called by him the mobilization of troops and adoption of the initiative. Ugaki, who saw an opportunity as a potential chairman of the Party Rikken Minseitō to be Prime Minister in a legal way, but denied any support for the coup attempt.
The conspirators attempted on March 17, 1931, two days before the actual scheduled date for the coup, once again to awaken a revolt. However, it again not managed to mobilize enough people. After this experiment, the main planners were arrested and the entire conspiracy smash.
Effects
Ugaki step personally to cover up the attempted coup as well as possible, and made sure that the planners were only given very lenient sentences. This procedure caused several other coup attempts by the military, which saw confirmed his position, and was an obstacle in Ugakis further ambition to become prime minister. Its failure had Hashimoto not deterred and he tried seven months later, to overthrow in October 1931, the government again in the October incident.