Glossary of Names, Terms, and Events

Glossary of Names, Terms, and Events[1]

Abe Genki. 1894-1989. Bureaucrat. Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1920). Home Ministry, 1920-45 (superintendent general, Police, 1937-41). Home Minister, Suzuki Cabinet, 1945. Arrested as Class A war criminal but never prosecuted.

Abe Isamu. 1902- . Marxist economist. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics. Arrested in Faculty Group Incident, 1938.

Abe Yoshishige. 1883-1966. Philosopher, educator. First Higher School (graduated 1905); Tōdai Faculty of Letters (graduated 1908). Faculty: Keiō, First Higher School, Hōsei, Seoul. Principal, First Higher School, 1940-. Minister of Education, 1945-46. 

Alliance for a Teidai Purge (Teidai shukusei kisei dōmeikai帝大粛清期成同盟会). Front group for Genri Nihon push to rid Tōdai of its leftist professors.

Andō Yoshio. 1917-1985. Economist. Hirosaki Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1941). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1947-78.

Araki Kōtarō. 1894-1951. Economist. Tōdai Faculty of Economics. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Agriculture, then (1935) Faculty of Economics. Member, Kawai faction, then Hijikata faction.

Araki Sadao. 1877-1966. Army officer, politician. Key figure in Imperial Way faction; placed on inactive list in 1936. As Minister of Education, 1938-39, pushed for end to university autonomy. Key actor in Hiraga Purge. 

Arisawa Hiromi. 1896-1988. Marxist economist. Second Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1922). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1922-38. Arrested in 1938 and fired from Tōdai. Assisted Army planning (1944-45) and was key figure in Japan’s postwar economic recovery.

Arita Hachirō. 1884-1965. Diplomat, politician. First Higher School (graduated 1905); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1909). Diplomatic service, 1909-. Foreign Minister, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1940.

Atcheson, George. 1896-1947. Diplomat. University of California, Berkeley. Foreign Service, 1920- ; China, 1924-39; Assistant Chief, Division of Far Eastern Affairs, 1941; charge d’affairs, U.S. Embassy, Chungking. SCAP, 1945-47; chief, Diplomatic Section, 1946.

Awaya Kentarō. 1944- . Historian. Tōdai Faculty of Letters. Faculty, Kobe University, Rikkyō daigaku.

Blue Sky Club (Seijitsukai製日会). Study group set up by Kawai Eijirō, after his expulsion from Tōdai; mainly former students living in Tokyo. 

Chō Isamu. 1895-1945. Military officer. Army Officer School (graduated 1916). Founder of Sakurakai 桜会 (1930); planner of March and October Incidents, 1931 (disciplined). Committed suicide, Okinawa , 1945. 

Comintern. Communist International, 1919-43. Policy of popular front—alliance with all “anti-fascist” forces—adopted by seventh world congress, 1935. Dissolved by Josef Stalin, 1943. 

Council on Tenure of Higher Civil Servants (Bunkan kōtō bungen iinkai 文官高等分限委員会). Bureaucratic organ overseeing firing of higher civil servants; played role in firing of Kawai Eijirō. 

Deans’ Council (Gakubuchō kaigi学部長会議). Bureaucratic organ including all Tōdai deans and the president. 

Emperor-organ theory. Constitutional theory associated most closely with Minobe Tatsukichi, that the emperor is one part of state, not superior to state; long accepted (in law schools and civil service exam before the 1930s) as standard doctrine. Attacked by far right in 1935 and after. 

Engineering II. Second Tōdai curriculum in economics, set up during war to increase flow of engineers for war effort. 

Faculty Group Incident (Kyōju grūpu jiken 教授グルウプ事件). Arrests in early 1938 of many faculty members, including (at Tōdai) economists Ōuchi, Arisawa, and Wakimura. Also called Second Popular Front Incident.

February 26 Incident. Army revolt in central Tokyo, February 26-29, 1936. Assassination of three major figures (home minister, finance minister, military training chief).

First Higher School. Chief preparatory school (ages 17-20) for Tokyo University; crucial in education of many Tōdai professors who figure large in this account.

Five Ministers’ Council (Gosō kaigi五相会議). 1933. Composed of prime minister, foreign minister, finance minister, and the two service ministers.

Fresh Breeze Association (Seifūkai清風会). Organization of unaffiliated Diet members set up by Tanaka Kōtarō; pursued middle-of-the-road policies. 

Friends of Economics (Keiyūkai経右会). Association of students in the Tōdai Faculty of Economics; subject to control of Dean of Faculty of Economics.

Fujii Takeshi. 1888-1930. First Higher School (Non-Church Christian; disciple of Uchimura Kanzō); Tōdai Faculty of Law graduate. Home Ministry. 1915-20: aide to Uchimura. Proselytizer.

Fukuda Kanichi. 1923-2007. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Law. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law (political science). Editor (with Maruyama Masao) of books on Nambara Shigeru.

Fukumoto-ism. Doctrine, associated with Fukumoto Kazuo (1894-1983), calling for two-step revolution: bourgeois revolution, then rapid transformation to socialist revolution. Backed by Comintern over Yamakawa-ism.

GHQ. General Headquarters, American Occupation of Japan. Shorthand for Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, Supreme Commander for Allied Powers (SCAP).

Genri Nihon原理日本. Journal founded by Minoda Muneki that became bellwether of right-wing attack on Tōdai in the 1930s. 

Gensuikyō 原水協 (Gensuibaku kinshi Nihon kyōgikai原水爆禁止日本協議会). Japanese Council against the Hydrogen Bomb, founded 1955 in response to U.S. testing at Bikini; split in the early 1960s over whether to protest Soviet nuclear weapons.

Grew, Joseph C. 1880-1965. Diplomat. Groton; Harvard College (graduated 1902). Ambassador to Denmark (1920-21), Switzerland (1921-24), Turkey (1927-32), Japan (1932-42).

Hashizume Akio. 1899-1975. Economist. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics; Hijikata faction. Home Ministry spy at Tōdai; later dean. Resigned at war’s end. 

Hatoyama Ichirō. 1883-1959. Politician. First Higher School (graduated 1903); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1907). Diet member, 1915- . Minister of Education, 1931-34. Prime Minister, 1954-56. 

Hayashi Kentarō. 1913-2004. Historian (Marxist, became anti-Marxist after the war). First Higher School; Tōdai (graduated 1935). Faculty, First Higher, then Tōdai. Tōdai president, 1973-77.

Higher schools. Under pre-war education system, prepared elite students for university. Offered three-year general course (usually, ages 17-20) prior to three-year university course; comparable to U.S. undergraduate colleges.

Hijikata faction. Members: Hijikata, Honiden, Yamada, Tanabe, Araki, Nakanishi.

Hijikata Seibi. 1890-1975. Economist, dean, target of Hiraga Purge. Sixth Higher School (Ehime), Tōdai Law (economics). Married daughter of Hijikata Yasuji, president of Hōka daigaku 法科大学, which became the Tōdai Faculty of Law. Assistant professor (specialty: economic theory), 1917-21 (three years’ study in U. S. and Europe), professor 1921-February 1939. Forced out in Hiraga Purge. Taught thereafter at Hōsei University (during and after the war) and other universities.

Hiraga Purge. January 1939. Firing of Hijikata and Kawai, and subsequent voluntary resignations of many of their respective adherents. End of bitter factionalism in Faculty of Economics.

Hiraga Yuzuru. 1878-1943. Naval architect (known as “Battleship god” for role in designing Japan’s great battleships); dean of Faculty of Engineering; Tōdai president. First Higher School, Tōdai Engineering (graduated 1901). Worked at Yokosuka and Kure shipyards; Royal Naval College (Greenwich; 1905-1908). Lecturer, Tōdai (1909-); professor (1918- ). Promoted to rear admiral, naval construction (1922) and vice admiral (1926); reserves (1931). Tōdai president, December 1938-February 1943 (died in office).

Hiraizumi Kiyoshi. 1895-1984. Historian. Fourth Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Letters (graduated 1918). Advocate of Imperial-Japan history with focus on emperor. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Letters, 1923-45 (resignation). Purged by Occupation, 1948-52. Focus of five Tachibana chapters preceding the chapters translated here

Home Ministry. 1873-1947 (abolished by Occupation). Government office with jurisdiction over the police; home minister second only to prime minister in prestige and power.

Honiden Yoshio. 1892-1978. Economist. First Higher School (graduated 1912); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1916). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1921-1938 (resigned in protest); Hijikata faction.

Hozumi Shigetō. 1883-1951. Legal scholar. First Higher School (graduated 1904); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1908). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1908-1943; dean, . Justice, Supreme Court, 1949-51.

Ida Iwakuzu. 1881-1964. Baron; Army officer. Army College (graduated 1901). Member, House of Peers, 1925-45. Arrested as Class A war crimes suspect, 1945; released, 1947.

Imai Tōshiki. 1886-1950. Historian. Tōdai Faculty of Letters (graduated 1911). Faculty, First Higher School, 1919-12; Tōdai Faculty of Letters, 1923-47.

Imperial University Act (Teikoku daigakurei帝国大学令). 1886, revised 1919, and revised again after the war.

Imperial University News 帝国大学新聞 (Teikoku daigaku shimbun [1920-44], then Daigaku shimbun 大学新聞). Prewar Tōdai publication, serious and respected journal.

Inner Government Council 内政会議 (Naisei kaigi). Informal decision-making body for domestic affairs in Saitō Cabinet (1932-34).

Inoki Masamichi. 1914-2012. Political scientist. Third Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1937). Member, Kyoto University Faculty of Law, 1949-71. Fulbright advisor of translator, 1964-66.

Inoue Kiyozumi. 1880-1962. Naval officer; politician; baron. Naval College (graduated 1901). Member, House of Peers, 1925-46.

Ishida Takeshi. 1923-  . Political scientist. Student, Tōhoku Imperial University Faculty of Letters and (after the war) Tōdai Faculty of Law. Student of Maruyama Masao.

Ishidō Kiyotomo. 1904-2001. Journalist, editor. Fourth Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Letters (graduated 1927). Member, Communist Party, 1927; arrested March 15, 1928; committed apostasy, 1933. Nihon hyōronsha (publishing house), 1934-38; Manchurian Railway Research, 1938-43 (arrest).

Ishigami Ryōhei. 1913-82. Political scientist. Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1936). Professor, Seikei daigaku, 1949-67.

Ishizaka Kimishige. 1925- . Medical professor. Seikei Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Medicine. Chief, National Institute of Infectious Diseases; professor, Johns Hopkins University, University of California.

Izawa Takio. 1869-1949. Bureaucrat, politician. Third Higher School; Todai Faculty of Law (graduated 1895). Entered Home Ministry, became prefectural governor, Ehime, Niigata. Member, Peers, 1914-45. Privy Councillor, 1940-45. Purged, 1947.

Japan-China Incident. “China Incident” that began in summer 1937 and became all-out war between Japan and China, 1937-45.

Kakehi Katsuhiko. 1872-1961. Constitutional lawyer, Shinto theorist. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1897). Professor, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1903-32.

Kanamori Tokujirō. 1886-1959. Bureaucrat; constitutional lawyer. First Higher School; Todai Faculty of Law. Entered Home Ministry; forced out (1936) over adherence to emperor-organ theory.

Katō Kanji. 1884-1965. Agrarian thinker. Fourth Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Agriculture (graduated 1912). Advocate of Manchurian colonization; trainer of potential colonists.

Kawai Eijirō. 1891-1944. Economist, dean, victim of Hiraga Purge. First Higher School, then Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1915). Ministry of Trade and Industry, 1915-1919 (resigned when the Ministry rejected his draft labor law, made public his reasons for resigning). Tōdai Faculty of Economics, assistant professor, 1920 (study in England, 1922-1926); dean, 1933-1934. Liberal; outspoken critic of military. Books proscribed by Interior Ministry in 1938. Forced from Tōdai in Hiraga Purge (1939). Court case ended in defeat (on appeal, 1943). Died February 1944.

Kawai faction. Kawai, Honiden, Nakanishi, Araki, Tanabe, Yamada, Yasui, Kimura, Ōkōchi.

Kawakami Jōtarō. 1891-1965. Politician; right-wing socialist. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1915). Faculty: Rikkyō, Kansai universities. Member, Lower House of Diet, 1936-65.

Kido Kōichi. 1889-1977. Bureaucrat, politician; Minister of Education, 1937; Home Minister, 1939-45. Defendant in Tokyo trial, sentenced to life imprisonment (released 1955).

Kimi ga yo君が代. Japan’s national anthem (prewar). In Basil Hall Chamberlain’s translation: “Thousands of years of happy reign be thine; / Rule on, my lord, until what are pebbles now / By ages united to mighty rocks shall grow / Whose venerable sides the moss doth line.”

Kimura Takeyasu. 1909-1973. Economist. Fukuoka Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1931). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1932-43; First Higher School, 1943-45; Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1946-69. Resigned in protest when Kawai was fired (1938) but stayed on; disowned by Kawai.  

Kiyosawa Kiyoshi. 1890-1945. Journalist. U.S. stay, 1911-18. Asahi, 1927-29; free-lance reporter/commentator. Author of noted wartime diary.

Koizumi Shinzō. 1888-1966. Economist. Keiō gijuku daigaku (graduated 1910). Faculty, Keiō, 1910-47; president, 1933-47.

Kokutai, clarification of. Kokutai国体: literally, form of state/country, supposedly distinct from seitai 政体(form of government), but code for Japan’s supposedly unique relation between emperor and people. “Clarification of the kokutai” 国体明徴the shibboleth of anti-liberal forces around Genri Nihon; led to Emperor-Organ Incident.

Kubota Kinuko. 1913-85. Constitutional lawyer. Nihon joshi daigaku graduate; Tōdai Faculty of Law (first female student; graduated 1949). Faculty member: Tōdai, Rikkyō, Tōhoku gakuin daigaku.

Kushida Tamizō. 1885-1934. Economist. Tokyo gaikokugo gakkō (graduated 1908); Kyoto University (graduated 1912). Faculty, Dōshisha University, 1914- ; dean, Law Faculty, 1916. Lecturer, Tōdai, 1919-20 (resigned in Morito Incident). Ōhara Institute for Research, 1920-1934.

Kwantung Army関東軍. Military command tasked with “defending” Japanese interests in Manchuria, 1906-1945; training ground of activist right-wing officers.

Listen to the Voices from the Sea 聞け渡津見 の声(Kike wadatsumi no koe, 1949). Compilation of letters and diaries of university students who became kamikaze pilots; immensely influential in post-war Japan.

Maide Chōgorō. 1891-1961. Economist. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1917). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1917-52; dean, 1938-39 (succeeding Hijikata; resigned); dean, 1945-1948.

Makino Nobuaki. 1861-1949. Politician. Tōdai; (graduated 1880). Foreign Ministry (1880). Prefectural governor, Fukui, Ibaraki; ambassador to Austria, Italy. Minister: Education, Industry, Foreign Minister, Imperial Household, Home.

Manchurian Incident. September 1931. Explosion staged by Kwantung Army and blamed on Chinese “insurgents,” which led quickly to all-out Japanese invasion of Manchuria, declaration (1932) of state of Manchukuo, and Japan’s departure from League of Nations (1933).

Marco Polo Bridge. Bridge ten miles southwest of Beijing, scene (July 7, 1937) of opening of what became full-scale war between Japan and China.

Maruyama Masao. 1914-1996. Political scientist (intellectual history of Japan). Son of prominent journalist. First Higher School (1934), then Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1937). Disciple of Nambara Shigeru. Mobilized twice (Korea, Hiroshima) during the war. Assistant professor, Tōdai, 1944; professor, 1950-1974.

May 15, 1932 Incident. Revolt by young naval officers that resulted in assassination of Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi.

Mimurodo Takamitsu. Baron, politician; active in attacking Minobe Tatsukichi and Tōdai and calling for “clarification of the kokutai.” Purged by Occupation.

Ministry of Education. 1871-2001. Bureaucratic organization with jurisdiction over Japanese education, including imperial universities; led during Hiraga Purge by Gen. Araki Sadao.

Minobe Ryōkichi. 1904-84. Economist, politician; son of Minobe Tatsukichi. Second Higher School (graduated 1923); Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1926). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1926-32; Hōsei University Faculty of Economics, 1935-38 (resigned after arrest in Faculty Group Incident). Tokyo Prefectural Governor, 1967-79.

Minobe Tatsukichi. 1873-1948. Constitutional lawyer; member of the Upper House. Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1897). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1900-33. His emperor-organ theory the focus of major ideological struggle after 1934. Attacked by right-wing thugs and severely injured, 1936.

Minoda Muneki. 1894-1946. Journalist; editor of Genri Nihon. Fifth Higher School; Tōdai (law, then literature). Graduate work at Tōdai Faculty of Law (mentor: Uesugi Shinkichi). Lecturer (logic, psychology) at Keiō University and Kokushikan University, 1932-1941. Founded Genri Nihon (1925); led attack on Tōdai. Committed suicide, 1946.

Mitani Takanobu. 1892-1985. Bureaucrat. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1917). Home Ministry; Foreign Ministry. Ambassador: Switzerland, 1940; France, 1942.

Miyazawa Toshiyoshi. 1899-1976. Constitutional law. First Higher School, Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1923). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1929-1959.

Mori Arinori. 1847-89. Samurai from Satsuma sent to England to study in 1865. First ambassador to the U.S., 1871-3; first Minister of Education. Assassinated,1889.

Morito Incident. Firing of Morito Tatsuo (1888-1984; Tōdai graduate [1914] and professor, 1916-20) after he published translation of Kropotkin essay; cause célèbre among students and faculty, with Uesugi Shinkichi attacking and Yoshino Sakuzō defending.

Nagayo Matarō. 1878-1941. Pathologist; Tōdai president. First Higher School; Tōdai (1904). Professor, Faculty of Medicine; Tōdai president, 1934-1938. Named baron the day before his death.

Nakanishi Torao. 1896-1975. Marxist economist. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics Kawai faction, then Hijikata faction.

Nakata Kaoru. 1877-1967. Legal historian. Tōdai (graduated 1900). Faculty, Tōdai, 1902-37. 

Nakayama Ichirō. 1898-1980. Economist. Tokyo Commercial University (now Hitotsubashi; graduated 1923). Faculty, Tokyo Commercial University, 1923-; president, 1949. Lecturer, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1939-49.

Nambara Shigeru. 1889-1974. Political scientist, dean, president. First Higher School (1910); Tōdai (Law, 1914). Convert to Christianity (Uchimura Kanzō), Non-Church Movement. Home Ministry, 1914-1921. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1921-1951; dean, February-December, 1945; president, December 1945-1951. 

Nasu Shiroshi.  First Higher School (graduated 1920); Tōdai (graduated 1913). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Agriculture, 1923-46; dean.

National spiritual mobilization 国民精神総動員運動 (Kokumin seishin sōdōin undō). Policy of Konoe Cabinet initiated September 1937 as part of response to China Incident, with slogans: “Eight corners [of the world] under one roof,” “A nation united,” “Iron will.” 

Nitobe Inazō. 1862-1933. Agronomist, educator. Sapporo Agricultural College (later Hokkaido University; conversion to Christianity); Johns Hopkins University and Halle University. Faculty, Sapporo Agricultural College, then Tōdai; technical advisor to Taiwan colonial government. Principal of First Higher School (1906-13); Tōdai Faculty of Economics (colonial policy, 1913-20). Undersecretary, League of Nations (1920-26). Among members of his Bible Study Group: Yanaihara Tadao, Takagi Yasaka, Nambara Shigeru.

Non-Church (Christianity) movement. 1901- . Founded by Uchimura Kanzō; movement without liturgy, sacraments, clergy. Members included Yanaihara Tadao, Nambara Shigeru.

Odagiri Hideo. 1916-2000. Journalist, critic. Hōsei University. 1943: drafted; 1944: POW.

Ōgiya Shōzō. 1913-92. Journalist. Tōdai Faculty of Letters (graduated 1935). Asahi, 1935-68.

Ōhara Institute for Research 大原社会問題研究所研究所 (Ōhara shakai mondai kenkyūjo). Founded 1919, Osaka, by Ōhara Magosaburō; moved to Tokyo in 1937. Provided research home for, among others, Ōuchi Hyōe, Morito Tatsuo, Rōyama Masamichi.

Oka Yoshitake. 1902-90. Political scientist. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1926). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1926-63; dean, 1955-57.

Ōkita Saburō. 1914-93. Bureaucrat, economist. First Higher School (graduated 1934); Tōdai Faculty of Engineering (graduated 1937). Communications Ministry, Greater East Asia Ministry, Foreign Ministry (August 1945-47). Active in postwar economic research.

Ōkōchi Kazuo. 1905-84. Economist. Third Higher School; Tōdai. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, until 1939. Resigned in protest at time of Hiraga Purge but persuaded to stay on (decision meant permanent break with Kawai). Returned to Tōdai faculty, 1949; president, 1962-68.

Ōmori Yoshitarō. 1898-1940. Marxist economist; commentator. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1922). Member, Faculty of Economics, 1922-1928 (resignation). Arrest sought, March 15, 1928 incident. Arrested, Popular Front Incident, 1938.

Onozuka Kiheiji. 1871-1944. Political scientist. First Higher School; Tōdai. Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1901-34. Dean; president 1928-34. Among his disciples: Yoshino Sakuzō, Nambara Shigeru, Rōyama Masamichi, Yabe Teiji.

Ōtsuka Hisao. 1907-96. Economic historian. Third Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Economics (student of Honiden Yoshio; convert to Non-Church Christianity; graduated 1933). Faculty, Hōsei daigaku, 1933-39; Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1939-68.

Ōuchi faction. Ouchi; Maide, Ueno, Arisawa, Wakimura.

Ōuchi Hyōe. 1888-1980. Marxist economist. Fifth Higher School; Tōdai Law (specialty: economics, 1913). Finance Ministry, 1913; Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1919. 1920-1922: fired from Tōdai for involvement in Morito Incident. 1938: arrested in Faculty Group Incident, fired from Tōdai. Found not guilty, resigned Tōdai, 1944. Reinstated Tōdai, 1945-1949. President, Hosei University, 1950-1959. 

Peace Preservation Law治安維持法. 1925. Targeted at socialism, anarchism, communism; amended in 1928 to include death penalty.

Popular Front. Policy adopted by the Comintern (1935) to embrace all anti-fascist forces in a united front against fascism.

Popular Front Incident 人民戦線事件. Arrests of some 400 leftists (mainly non-Communists) in December 1937, followed by Faculty Group Incident (sometimes called Second Popular Front Incident): the arrests of professors on February 1, 1938, including Tōdai Faculty of Economics members Ōuchi Hyōe, Arisawa Hiromi, and Wakimura Yoshitarō.

Publication Law 出版法 (Shuppanhō). 1893. Article 26 established penalties for blaspheming the dignity of the Imperial House; Article 27 established penalties for disturbing the public order or corrupting social mores.

Red Gate Popular Front. Tōdai student shorthand for the Popular Front at Tōdai, including the three professors arrested in January 1938: Ōuchi, Arisawa, and Wakimura.

Reischauer, Edwin O. 1910-90. Japan scholar. Oberlin College (graduated 1931); Harvard Ph. D., 1939. Member, Harvard University faculty. Ambassador to Japan, 1961-66.

Renovationist clique. Within Tōdai Faculty of Economics, those professors favoring active collaboration in wartime economy; published journal Renovation. 

Right of supreme command 帷幄上奏 (Iaku jōsō). Right of supreme command under Article XI of the Meiji Constitution: “The Emperor has supreme command of the Army and Navy.” Emperor—not prime minister or Diet—controlled military.

Rōnōha 労農派. Literally, labor-farmer faction (named after journal Rōnō労農, established 1928); non-Communist left in prewar Japan, subject of arrest and suppression in Popular Front Incident, 1938.

Rōyama Masamichi. 1895-1980. Political scientist. First Higher School (graduated 1917); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1920). Faculty, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1920-39 (voluntary resignation to protest Hiraga Purge); Ōhara Research Institute. Purged by Occupation, 1947-48.

Sakisaka Itsurō. 1897-1985. Marxist economist. Fifth Higher School (graduated 1918); Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1921). Faculty, Kyushu University, 1922-28 (resigned under pressure). Editor/translator in Tokyo; Rōnōha. Arrested 1937 in Popular Front Incident.

Sakomizu Hisatsune. 1902-77. Bureaucrat; politician. Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1925). Finance Ministry, 1925-44. Chief Cabinet Secretary, Suzuki Cabinet, 1945. Purged by Occupation, 1947-51.

Sasaki Michio. 1897- . Business accounting. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics,   .

Sassa Hiroo. 1897-1948. Political science. Fifth Higher School (graduated 1917); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1920). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1920-  ; Kyushu University Faculty of Law,    -1928 (purged as communist).

Satō Kanji. 1876-1967. Agricultural economics. Tōdai Faculty of Agriculture (graduated 1904). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Agriculture; dean; acting president, 1938. 

Sawayanagi Incident. 1913-14. Dispute at Kyoto University between President Sawayanagi Masatarō and faculty over his attempted dismissal of seven professors. At issue: the faculty prerogative in hiring/firing professors. Mass protest resignations at Kyoto University and support from Tōdai led to reversal of firings and resignation of Sawayanagi.

Seki Yoshihiko. 1912-2006.

Shibusawa Keizō. 1896-1963. Financier. Third Higher School (graduated 1918); Todai Faculty of Law (Economics, graduated 1921). Banking, 1921-1945; executive director, Bank of Japan, 1944-45. Finance Minister, 1945. Purged, 1946-51.

Shinjinkai 新人会. Literally, “new men’s group.” Student organization 1918-29, primarily at Tōdai; liberal, then radical politics. Dissolved after mass arrests of Communist Party members of March 15, 1928.

Shiojiri Kōmei. 1901-69. Todai Faculty of Law graduate. 

Shōwa Research Group 昭和研究会 (Shōwa kenkyūkai). 1933-40. Konoe Fumimaro’s brain trust, established by Gotō Ryūnosuke, to work within constitutional limits for reform of existing political parties.

Social Mass Party社会民主党 (Shakai minshūtō). 1926-32.

South Manchurian Railroad (SMRR). Railway connecting Port Arthur and Harbin, built by Russia (1888-93); transferred to Japanese control (including South Manchuria Railway Zone) in 1905. Management of the railway expanded after 1931 to include virtually all aspects of Japanese “nation-building” in Manchuria.

Special Police 特別高等警察 (Tokubetsu kōtō keisatsu or Tokkō特高). 1911-45. Police reporting directly to Home Ministry (spread to all prefectures in 1928) with primary concern of controlling “anti-government” activity.

Students. Call-up of: December 1943. End of draft deferments for university students. Commissioned students: Rubric under which active-duty military officers enrolled in courses at Tōdai. Special-researcher system: Wartime system of preference for students who committed themselves to careers favored by the military. Liberal arts students: once draft deferment ended, constituted vast majority of student-soldiers and of kamikaze dead.

Suehiro Gentarō. 1888-1951. Civil law. First Higher School (graduated 1909); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1912). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1914-46; dean, 1942-45.

Suenobu Sanji. 1899-1989. Law professor (English and American law). Fifth Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1923). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1925-60.

Suzuki Kantarō. 1868-1948. Naval officer; politician. Prime target in February 26, 1936 Incident, wounded but not killed. Prime Minister, April-August 1945.

Suzuki Kōichirō. 1910-83. Marxist economist. Yamaguchi Higher School (graduated 1930); Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1934). Ōhara Institute for Research, 1935-40. Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1947-71; dean, 1963-65.

Suzuki Takeo. 1901-75. Economist. Third Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1925). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1927-45 (withdrew), 1957-62.

Suzuki Tōmin. 1895-1979. Journalist, labor politician. Todai Faculty of Economics. Osaka Asahi, Yomiuri. Anti-Nazi activity.

Takagi Sōkichi. 1893-1979. Naval officer. Naval Academy (graduated 1915).

Takagi Yasaka. 1889-1984. American studies. Son of Baron Kanda Naibu. First Higher School; Tōdai (graduated 1915). Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1918-49. Quaker. 

Takahashi Masao. 1901-95. Marxist economist. Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1925). Member, Faculty of Economics, Kyushu daigaku, 1928-38 (fired after arrest in Faculty Group Incident). Reporter, Osaka Shimpō, 1940-44. Member, Faculty of Economics, Kyushu daigaku, 1946-65.

Takigawa Incident. 1932-33. Attack on Kyoto University Faculty of Law Professor Takigawa Yukitoki by right-wing forces, notably Kikuchi Takeo. Ministry of Education instructed Kyoto University president to fire Takigawa. Eight professors (of fifteen) and thirteen assistant professors (of eighteeen) resigned in protest. Tōdai Faculty of Law took no concerted action.

Tamba Shigeteru. Dean, Tōdai Faculty of Agriculture.

Tanabe Tadao. 1891-1967. Economist.Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics; Kawai faction, then Hijikata faction.

Tanaka Kōtarō. 1890-1974. Commercial law; philosophy of law. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Law (1915). Home Ministry 1915. Tōdai Faculty of Law 1917- ; dean, 1937 (resigned in aftermath of Hiraga Purge). Minister of Education, 1946; member, Upper House, 1947-1950; justice, Supreme Court, 1950; justice, International Court of Justice [the Hague], 1961-70. Non-Church Christian; then Catholic.

Tōgō Shigenori. 1882-1950. Diplomat, politician. Seventh Higher School (graduated 1904); Todai Faculty of Letters (graduated 1908). Diplomatic service, 1912-45; Foreign Minister at war’s beginning and at end. Defendant in Tokyo trial, sentenced to 20 years.

Tomita Kenji. 1897-1977. Bureaucrat, politician. Kyoto University Faculty of Law (graduated 1921). Home Ministry, including police in Ishikawa and Osaka prefectures. Chief Cabinet Secretary (to Konoe Cabinet), 1940-41. Member, House of Peers, 1941-46.

Tomizu Incident. 1905. Tomizu Hirondo (1861-1935), professor of Tōdai Faculty of Law, who (along with six others) criticized as insufficiently forceful the government’s policy toward Russia and the peace settlement at Portsmouth placed on leave, then fired. Widespread protest by imperial universities led to reinstatement (1906). 

Tsuda Incident. 1939. Guest lecturer on East Asian history at Tōdai, Tsuda attacked by right-wing forces at Tōdai and outside. His books were proscribed; he was indicted. Court proceedings led to finding of guilty of infringing Article 26 of Publications Law), finding upheld on appeal (1942).

Tsuda Sōkichi. 1873-1961. Historian; anthropologist. Tōkyō semmon gakkō (later Waseda University; 1891). Taught in various middle schools (to 1908); researcher, Southern Manchurian Railroad. Faculty, Waseda University, 1918-40 (forced resignation). Guest lecturer, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1938; subject of right-wing attack.

Tsuji Kiyoaki. 1913-91. Political scientist. Third Higher School (graduated 1934); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1937). Faculty, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1942-

Tsurumi Yūsuke. 1885-1973. Bureaucrat, politician. First Higher School (graduated 1907); Todai Faculty of Law (graduated 1910). Elected to Lower House, 1936 and later. Purged by Occupation. After war, Diet member and Minister for Health in Hatoyama Cabinet.

Tsūshin通信 (Tidings). Private newsletter of Yanaihara Tadao. 

Uchida Yoshikazu. 1885-1972. Architect. First Higher School (graduated 1904); Tōdai Faculty of Engineering (graduated 1907). Member, Tōdai faculty, 1911-45; president, 1943-45.

Uchimura Kanzō. 1861-1930. Christian educator, proselytizer; founder of Non-Church Movement. Sapporo Agricultural College (graduated 1881); Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst College (graduated 1887), Hartford Seminary. Faculty, First Higher School, 1890-1891 (fired in lèse majesté incident).

Ueno Michizuke. 1888-1962. Economist. Tōdai (graduated 1911). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1917-49.

Uesugi Shinkichi. 1878-1929. Constitutional scholar. Fourth Higher School (graduated 1898); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1901). Faculty, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1903-1929. Adherent of theory of imperial sovereignty; opponent of emperor-organ theory.

University Council 大学評議会 (Daigaku hyōgikai). University deliberative body made up of dean and two elected representatives of each faculty.

Unno Shinkichi. 1885-1968. Lawyer, human rights activist. Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1908). Active in defense of Kawai Eijirō, the Popular Front, Tsuda Sōkichi, among others; active, too, after the war.

Uno Kōzō. 1897-1977. Marxist economist. Sixth Higher School (graduated 1918); Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1921). Faculty, Tōhoku Imperial University Faculty of Economics, 1924-38. Arrested in Popular Front Incident, February 1, 1938; found not guilty. Tōdai Social Sciences Research Center, 1947-58.

Wagatsuma Sakae. 1897-1973. Civil law. First Higher School (graduated 1917); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1920). Faculty, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1922-57.

Wakatsuki Reijirō. 1866-1949. Bureaucrat, politician. Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1892). Finance Ministry, 1892-1911. Member, House of Peers, 1911- ; Finance Minister, 1912- ; Home Minister, 1924-. Prime Minister, 1926-27, 1931. Senior Councilor, 1932-45.

Wakimura Yoshitarō. 1900-97. Economist. Third Higher School (graduated 1921); Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1924). Faculty, Faculty of Economics, 1924-38 (arrested in Faculty Group Incident with Ōuchi and Arisawa), 1945-61.

War Economy Study Group 戦時経済研究会 (Senji keizai kenkyūkai). Established 1938 by Hijikata to facilitate Faculty of Economics cooperation in the war effort.

Watanabe Jōtarō. 1874-1936. General. Chief of Military Training; assassinated in February 26, 1936 Incident.

Watanabe Kazuo. 1901-75. Scholar of French literature. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Letters (graduated 1925). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Letters, 1942-62. Author, preface to Listen to the Voices from the Sea.

Watanabe Shinichi. Assistant professor, Tōdai Faculty of Economics; Hijikata faction.

Yabe Teiji. 1902-67. Political scientist. First Higher School (graduated 1923); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1926). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1928-1945 (voluntary resignation).

Yamada Fumio. 1898-1978. Economist. First Higher School; Tōdai Faculty of Economics. Member, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1930-1938 (resigned in protest). Member, Hijikata faction. 

Yamada Moritarō. 1897-1980. Marxist economist. Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1923). Member, Faculty of Economics, 1923-1930 (driven from Tōdai). Arrested 1936. Reinstated Tōdai, 1945-57; dean, 1950.

Yamakawa-ism. Doctrine, associated with Yamakawa Hitoshi (1880-1953), at heart of Rōnō movement: emphasis on mass political movement based on labor, with socialist revolution a distant goal. Read out of the Communist Party by Comintern as opportunism in favor of Fukumoto-ism.

Yanaihara Incident. Forced resignation of Yanaihara from Tōdai in 1937.

Yanaihara Tadao. 1893-1961. Economist, Tōdai president. First Higher School (and conversion to Christianity by Uchimura Kanzō); Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1917. Sumitomo, 1917. Faculty of Economics, 1920-37 (forced resignation). Reinstated November 1945; Tōdai president, 1951-1957.

Yanaikawa . Assistant professor, Tōdai Faculty of Economics (1938). Present at formation of War Economy Study Group.

Yasuda Auditorium. The large auditorium beneath the tower at the center of the Tōdai campus, scene of many historic gatherings.

Yasui Kaoru. 1907-80. Lawyer; activist. Osaka Higher School (graduated 1927); Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1930). Member, Tōdai Faculty of Law, 1931-47; professor, 1940. Purged by Occupation, 1947. Board chair, Gensuikyō, 1954-65; winner, Lenin Prize, 1958.

Yasui Takuma. 1909-1995. Economist. Tōdai Faculty of Economics (graduated 1931). Faculty, Tōdai Faculty of Economics, 1931-44 (transfer to Tōhoku University). Member, Kawai faction.

Yonai Mitsumasa. 1880-1948. Naval officer; politician. Naval College (graduated 1901). Navy Minister, 1937. Prime Minister, 1940. Navy Minister, 1944-45.

Yoshida Shigeru. 1878-1967. Diplomat, politician. Prime Minister, 1946-54. Tōdai Faculty of Law (graduated 1906). Foreign Ministry, 1906-39. Foreign Minister, September 1945-52; Prime Minister, 1946-54.

Yūmoto Toyokichi.   Assistant professor, Tōdai Faculty of Economics; Hijikata faction.

Zenkyōtō (Zengaku kyōtō kaigi; All-Student Alliance). 1968-69. Student umbrella organization behind radical and sometimes violent action on campuses in years of Japan’s greatest postwar student unrest.


  1. I have used Tokyo University or Tōdai東大 throughout—for the early years before it was Tokyo Imperial University, for the years it was Tokyo Imperial University 東京帝国大学, and for the postwar years when it became Tokyo University東京大学. Complete biographical data for many of the people who figure in this account is not readily available. Where nothing was available, I have omitted the name.

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Tokyo University and the War by Tachibana Takashi & Richard H. Minear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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