The was a period of political upheaval in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

that occurred after the death of

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

in 1912. During the twelve-month period following the emperor's death, the Japanese government was led by three different

prime ministers A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but rat ...

as the government attempted to restore the balance between the influence of Japan's elder statesmen (the '' genrō'') and that of the Japanese public, as embodied in the

Meiji Constitution The Constitution of the Empire of Japan ( Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: , ), known informally as the Meiji Constitution (, ''Meiji Kenpō''), was the constitution of the Empire of Japan which was proclaimed on February 11, 1889, and remained in ...

Beginnings

Following the death of the Emperor Meiji on July 30, 1912, Crown Prince Yoshihito ascended to the

Chrysanthemum Throne The is the throne of the Emperor of Japan. The term also can refer to very specific seating, such as the throne in the Shishin-den at Kyoto Imperial Palace. Various other thrones or seats that are used by the Emperor during official functions ...

. The final years of Emperor Meiji's rule saw increased government spending, notably for overseas investments and defense, with little credit or reserves available to cover it. When Prime Minister

Saionji Kinmochi Kazoku, Prince was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1906 to 1908, and from 1911 to 1912. As the last surviving member of the ''genrō'', the group of senior statesmen who had directed pol ...

, who was appointed prime minister by Emperor Meiji and continued in that post after his death, attempted to cut defense spending, Army Minister Uehara Yūsaku resigned in protest. The constitution required that the Army Minister to be an active-duty general; however, no eligible general of the Imperial Army was willing to serve. Unable to form a cabinet, Saionji resigned on December 21, 1912. The emperor appointed Katsura Tarō, a former army general, who had served as prime minister twice before and a member of the '' genrō'', to form the new government. Katsura was not a popular choice with the public, which believed he focused his interests more on the military than on the rest of the people. Soon after taking office, Katsura was faced with a ministerial defection of his own, when the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

sought an increased budget to fund the construction of new

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s and threatened to withhold the appointment of a Navy Minister as a negotiating tactic. Unlike his predecessor, Katsura went directly to the emperor, who issued an edict that the Navy must provide a minister.

Popular uprising

The opposition

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

(particularly the ''

Rikken Seiyūkai The was one of the main political party, political parties in the pre-war Empire of Japan. It was also known simply as the ''Seiyūkai''. Founded on September 15, 1900, by Itō Hirobumi,David S. Spencer, "Some Thoughts on the Political Devel ...

'' and ''

Rikken Kokumintō The Rikken Kokumintō () was a minor political party in the Empire of Japan. It was also known as simply the Kokumintō. History The ''Kokumintō'' was founded in March 1910, by a merger of the ''Kensei Hontō'' with a number of minor political ...

'') saw that as proof of Katsura's lack of commitment to

constitutional government A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

, and they joined forces with journalists and businessmen to form the ''Movement to Protect Constitutional Government''. Katsura responded by suspending the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

on three occasions and by forming his own

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

, the ''

Rikken Dōshikai The Rikken-Dōshi Kai () was a political party active in the Empire of Japan in the early years of the 20th century. It was also known as simply the Dōshikai. Founded by Prime Minister Katsura Tarō on February 7, 1913, the ''Rikken Dōshikai' ...

''. Popular protest nevertheless spread, and on February 10, 1913, thousands of protesters rioted in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, threatening the Diet building, setting fire to police stations and vandalizing pro-government newspaper offices. Support for Katsura in the Diet fell, and he lost a

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

, the first such occurrence in Japan. Katsura resigned on February 20, 1913, and was replaced by

Yamamoto Gonnohyōe , was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and twice Prime Minister of Japan from 1913 to 1914 and again from 1923 to 1924. Biography Early life Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima in Satsuma Province (now Kagoshima Prefecture) as the sixth son ...

, a former navy admiral.

Aftermath

It was the ability of the military to withhold appointment of Army or Navy ministers that was the greatest Achilles heel of the

. That power, more than any single other issue, led to military domination over civilian government in the 1930s and 1940s.

References

* *{{cite book , last = Wilson , first = Sandra , authorlink = , year = 2002 , title = Nation and Nationalism in Japan , publisher = Routledge Curzon , location = , isbn = 0-7007-1639-4 Politics of the Empire of Japan 1913 in Japan 1913 in politics Government crises