was a Japanese right wing and

ultranationalist Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...

founder of Genyosha (''

Black Ocean Society Black is a color which results from the absence or complete Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption of visible spectrum, visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or fi ...

'') and Kokuryukai (''

Black Dragon Society The , or the Amur River Society, was a prominent paramilitary, ultranationalist group in Japan. History The ''Kokuryūkai'' was founded in 1901 by martial artist Uchida Ryohei as a successor to his mentor Mitsuru Tōyama's '' Gen'yōsha''. I ...

''). Tōyama was a strong advocate of

Pan Asianism Satellite photograph of Asia in orthographic projection. Pan-Asianism (''also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism'') is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian peoples. Various theories and movements of Pan-Asi ...

(

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere The , also known as the GEACPS, was a concept that was developed in the Empire of Japan and propagated to Asian populations which were occupied by it from 1931 to 1945, and which officially aimed at creating a self-sufficient bloc of Asian peo ...

Early life

Tōyama was born to a poor ''

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

'' family in

Fukuoka City is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

in Kyūshū. In his youth, he fought in the Saga Rebellion of 1874. In 1881, Tōyama became one of the founders of the ''Genyosha'', a secret society and terrorist organization whose agenda was to agitate for Japanese military expansion and conquest of the Asian continent. The society attracted disaffected ex-''samurai'', and also figures involved in

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

to assist in its campaigns of violence and assassination against foreigners and left-wing politicians. In 1889, Tōyama and the ''Genyosha'' were implicated in the attempted assassination of foreign minister

Ōkuma Shigenobu Marquess was a Japanese statesman and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy. He served as Prime Minister of the Empire of Japan in 1898 and from 1914 to 1916. Ōkuma was also an early advocate of Western science and culture in Japan, and ...

Covert government cooperation

Tsuyoshi Inukai with Mitsuru Toyama and Chiang Kai-shek cropped

Tōyama was both a founder and one-time head of the ''

''. Immediately prior to the start of the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...

, Tōyama organized the '' Tenyukyo'', a secret society and paramilitary force that operated in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

prior to the arrival of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

, making detailed topographic maps, scouting out Chinese and Korean military installations and deployment, and arranging for logistic support. Along with ''Genyosha'' operatives in Korea and Manchuria, the ''Tenyukyo'' provided interpreters and guides to the regular Japanese army after their invasion. Tōyama was a strong supporter of Japanese control over

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

, and joined forces with the anti-Russian '' Tairo Doshikai'' movement in 1903. He also supported the Chinese republican revolutionaries against the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

and gave considerable support to Sun Yat-sen. When the Chinese revolution began in 1911, he went to China in person as an advisor and to personally oversee Genyosha activities and to provide assistance to Sun Yat-sen. Following the Chinese revolution, Tōyama officially retired, and apparently refused to play an active role in the

(''Kokuryu-Kai'') that he helped create as a successor to the ''Genyosha''. He remained an influential behind-the-scenes figure in Japanese politics during the following years.

Influence in nationalist Japan

In the 1930s, he was considered as a superpatriot by a large section of the Japanese public, including the military. In 1932, after the assassination of several "liberal" political figures, and following rumors that then Premier Saito and others were to be assassinated in turn, the government had Tōyama's house raided and searched, and his son arrested - leading to a momentary pacification of the situation.

Legacy

Grave of Mitsuru and Mineo Toyama, in the Aoyama Cemetery

Although Tōyama remained a private citizen all his life, he was known as the "Shadow Shogun," "Spymaster," and "The Boss of Bosses," because of his tremendous covert influence on the nationalist politics and the ''

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

'' crime syndicates. He also wrote an influential book on the "Three Shu" ( Katsu Kaishu, Takahashi Deishu, and

Yamaoka Tesshu Yamaoka is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * (born 1968), Japanese video game composer (''Silent Hill'' series) * Kristi Yamaoka (born 1987), American cheerleader discussed in Cheerleading#Dangers of cheerleading * ( ...

). Despite his ultranationalism, Tōyama was paradoxically on good terms with Onisaburo Deguchi, Japan's most fervent pacifist. Tōyama was a charismatic, complex, and controversial figure in his lifetime, and remains so to this day. He died in 1944 at his summer home on

Gotemba is a city on the southeastern flank of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 88,370 in 36,096 households, and a population density of 450 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography ...

, Shizuoka Prefecture, at the base of Mount Fuji.

Radio Tokyo , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestria ...

announced that funeral services lasting more than three hours were held for him in Tokyo.Associated Press, "State Funeral Given Black Dragon Chief", ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Thursday 12 October 1944, Volume 51, page 11.

References

Obituary; Oct 6, 1944, The New York Times pg. 23 Joseph C. Grew, ''Ten years in Japan'' p 69 ASIN: B0006ER51M {{DEFAULTSORT:Toyama, Mitsuru 1855 births 1944 deaths Japanese politicians People from Fukuoka Pan-Asianists

Early life

Covert government cooperation

Influence in nationalist Japan

Legacy

See also

References