14. The Imperial Way Faction in the Japanese Army
The Imperial Way Faction was a group of officers within the Japanese Army which developed in the early Showa period, out of the belief that modernization and industrialization were evils corrupting the Japanese people and military. They espoused a return to the Bushido code of the Samurai, with the emperor ruling as an absolute monarch, supported by the army. They also believed that war with the Soviet Union was inevitable as well as desirable to protect Japan from the infiltration of communism. During the 1930s plots of political assassination were developed by members of the faction, though most were uncovered before they were carried out.
On February 26, 1936, an attempted coup d’etat was triggered by members of the faction, which included several assassinations carried out by mostly junior army officers. When the coup failed to overthrow the government, 19 officers involved were tried and executed. Many others were imprisoned and senior officers were forced to resign. The end result was the Imperial Way faction largely vanished, but the army increased its control over the machinery of government. Although the coup failed it led directly to the resignation of the Prime Minister and the formation of a new government less than two weeks after the coup. Under the new government, only active duty military officers could serve as Ministers for the Army and Navy, reinforcing the power of the military to dissolve a government whenever it so chose.
