was a Japanese student who tried to assassinate the

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wi ...

Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

Hirohito in the Toranomon Incident on December 27, 1923.

Family and early life

Daisuke Nanba was born to a distinguished family. His grandfather was decorated by the Emperor Meiji. His father was a Member of the Imperial Diet until the act of his son forced him to resign. Before he was 21 years old, Nanba showed no signs of having any sympathy for the radicals, and was even thinking about becoming an officer in the army.

Political thought

After 1919, a series of events influenced him greatly. At school in Tokyo, he attended political lectures and demonstrated in support of the suffrage movement in 1920. As a result of his father's position, he had the chance to hear Prime Minister

Hara Takashi was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1918 to 1921. Hara held several minor ambassadorial roles before rising through the ranks of the Rikken Seiyūkai and being elected to the House of Representatives. Hara ...

's opposition to extending the franchise. Angry against the politicians, he became more critical of his father's role and felt that some direct action was necessary. He began reading the works of

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

as well as leftist magazines. In April 1921, he was affected greatly by Professor

Kawakami Hajime was a Japanese Marxist economist of the Taishō and early Shōwa periods. Biography Born in Yamaguchi, he graduated from Tokyo Imperial University. After writing for ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', he attained a professorship in economics at Kyoto Imp ...

's article on Russian Revolution. He was convinced that the revolution succeeded because dedicated terrorists made sacrifices. The following month's newspaper account about the

High Treason Incident The , also known as the , was a socialist- anarchist plot to assassinate the Japanese Emperor Meiji in 1910, leading to a mass arrest of leftists, and the execution of 12 alleged conspirators in 1911. Investigation On 20 May 1910, the police se ...

increased his indignation at the government. In late 1923, angered by the murders of Japanese anarchists and Koreans during the panic of the Great Kanto earthquake, he made up his mind to carry out the assassination.

Toranomon incident

The assassination attempt, known as the Toranomon incident, took place on 27 December 1923 at the Toranomon intersection between

Akasaka Palace , or the , is one of the two state guest houses of the Government of Japan. The other state guesthouse is the Kyoto State Guest House. The palace was originally built as the in 1909. Today the palace is designated by the Government of Japan a ...

and the Diet of Japan in downtown Tokyo, Japan. Crown Prince and Regent Hirohito was on his way to the opening of the 48th Session of the Imperial Diet when Nanba fired a small pistol at his carriage. The bullet shattered a window on the carriage, injuring a chamberlain, but Hirohito was unharmed.Bix, Herbert P. (2001). ''Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan''. pp. 140–141. Harper Perennial. .

Prosecution, execution and aftermath

Although Nanba claimed that he was rational (a view agreed upon in the court records), he was proclaimed insane to the public. On 13 November 1924, he was found guilty at an extraordinary session of the

Supreme Court of Japan The , located in Hayabusachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Japanese constitution and decide questions of national law. It has the power of judicial review, which allows it t ...

. When Chief Justice Yokota of the Supreme Court condemned Nanba to death, Nanba defiantly yelled back: "Long live the

Communist Party of Japan The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

!" He was executed by hanging two days later. His father and his married sister exiled themselves to

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

, Dutch East Indies in order to escape the disgrace which Nanba, by his act, had brought upon the family. The family reportedly changed its name to "Kurokawa".JAPAN: Noble Expiation
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Namba, Daisuke 1899 births 1924 deaths 20th-century executions by Japan People executed for treason against Japan Executed Japanese people People executed by Japan by hanging Japanese communists 20th-century executions for treason Hirohito People executed for attempted murder Failed regicides People from Yamaguchi Prefecture

Family and early life

Political thought

Toranomon incident

Prosecution, execution and aftermath

See also

References