Saburō Aizawa ( ''Aizawa Saburō'') (6 September 1889 – 3 July 1936) was a Japanese

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

of the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

who assassinated

Tetsuzan Nagata was a Japanese military officer and general of the Imperial Japanese Army best known as the victim of the Aizawa Incident in August 1935. Nagata was an influential military figure in the Meiji government and the ''de facto'' leader of the ''T ...

in the Aizawa Incident in August 1935. Aizawa was later court-martialed and executed for this murder.

Biography

Saburō Aizawa was born on 6 September 1889 in

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

, the eldest son of Hyonosuke Aizawa, a former

court clerk A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court and administering oaths ...

and

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

of the

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of ...

, and his wife Makiko. Aizawa attended

junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

before attending the regional military school of the

in Sendai and graduating on 28 May 1910. Aizawa served in many positions and was promoted numerous times during the 1910s and 1920s, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel by the early 1930s. Aizawa was a staunch supporter of the ''

Kōdōha The ''Kōdōha'' or was a political faction in the Imperial Japanese Army active in the 1920s and 1930s. The ''Kōdōha'' sought to establish a military government that promoted totalitarian, militaristic and aggressive imperialist ideals, and ...

'' (Imperial Way), the radical

militarist Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

political faction A political faction is a group of people with a common political purpose, especially a subgroup of a political party that has interests or opinions different from the rest of the political party. Intragroup conflict between factions can lead to ...

of the Imperial Japanese Army in opposition to the moderate ''

Tōseiha The ''Tōseiha'' or was a political faction in the Imperial Japanese Army active in the 1920s and 1930s. The ''Tōseiha'' was a grouping of generally conservative Officer (military), officers united primarily by their opposition to the radical ' ...

'' (Control Faction) during the ''

Gunbatsu is a Japanese term having two separate meanings. Its first meaning is a reference to the Japanese military leadership which exploited its privileged status to vie against the civilian government for control over the nation's policies (particularl ...

'' period. By mid-1935, Aizawa despised Major General

, the '' de facto'' leader of the ''Tōseiha'', whose ideas earned him the violent animosity as "chief villain" of the ''Kōdōha''. Nagata's national

mobilization Mobilization (alternatively spelled as mobilisation) is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word ''mobilization'' was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the ...

strategy of preparing both the military and civilian economy for

total war Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all (including civilian-associated) resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilises all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare ov ...

offended the ''Kōdōha'', who perceived it as collusion with corrupt

party politics ''Party Politics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of political science. The journal's editor is Paul Webb of the University of Sussex, UK. It has been in publication since 1995 and is currently published b ...

and the ''

zaibatsu is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signifi ...

''. Aizawa's behavior became noticeably erratic and he was stationed in

Japanese Taiwan The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became an annexed territory of the Empire of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sin ...

. In July 1935, Nagata's political manoeuvres led to the forced retirement of

Jinzaburō Masaki was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. He was regarded as a leader of the Imperial Way Faction within the Japanese military. Biography Born in Saga Prefecture in 1876, Masaki graduated from the 9th class of the Imperial Jap ...

, the Inspector-General of Military Training, who was a leading member of ''Kōdōha'' and Aizawa's friend.

Aizawa Incident

On 12 August 1935, Aizawa assassinated Tetsuzan Nagata for reputedly putting the Army "in the paws of high finance" and in retaliation for Raihan's forced retirement, which became known as the Aizawa Incident. Aizawa entered Nagata's office 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 ...

and cut him down with his sword, making no attempt to resist arrest by

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

and reportedly said that he "was in an absolute sphere, so there was neither affirmation nor negation, neither good nor evil".Schoppa, R. Keith: ''East Asia: Identities and Change in the Modern World'', Page 248. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Aizawa's actions increased the political polarization within the Imperial Japanese Army and the Army Minister

Senjūrō Hayashi was a Japanese politician and general. He served as Imperial Japanese Army Commander of the Japanese Korean Army during the Mukden Incident and the invasion of Manchuria. He briefly served as prime minister of Japan in 1937. Early life and e ...

was forced to resign over the affair. Further retaliation between factions resulted in the February 26 Incident in February 1936, effectively eradicating the ''Kōdōha'' and granting the ''Tōseiha'' total influence within the army. On 3 July 1936, Aizawa was executed by

firing squad Firing may refer to: * Dismissal (employment), sudden loss of employment by termination * Firemaking, the act of starting a fire * Burning; see combustion * Shooting, specifically the discharge of firearms * Execution by firing squad, a method of ...

after a high-profile

court martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

trial held by the

IJA 1st Division The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its ''tsūshōgō'' was the . The 1st Division was formed in Tokyo in January 1871 as the , one of six regional commands created in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army. The Tokyo Garr ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aizawa, Saburo 1889 births 1936 deaths 20th-century executions by Japan Imperial Japanese Army officers Imperial Japanese Army personnel who were court-martialed Japanese rebels Japanese fascists Japanese nationalist assassins Japanese people executed for murder Military personnel from Iwate Prefecture Executed assassins Executed military personnel People convicted of murder by Japan People executed by Japan by firing squad 20th-century murderers Activists from Sendai

Biography

Aizawa Incident

See also

Notes