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EspañolIMPERIAL WAY FACTION
The 'Imperial Way Faction' (皇道派 ''kōdōha'') was a Japanese right-wing nationalist political grouping, active in the 1930s and early 1940s. It was the political wing for the Japanese military, aiming to establish the military government. It was largely supported by junior officers of the Imperial Japanese Army, and promoted totalitarianism, militarism and expansionism in its doctrine.
One of the founders was Sadao Araki, leader of the movement. Hideki Tojo, leader of the opposing military faction leader, became the effective dictator of Japan in 1941, with command of Imperial forces during the first periods of the Pacific War, until the Saipan disaster in 1944.
History
Political environment
The origins of the party began in the 1920s as the samurai disappeared and officer groups began to take their place in the Japanese military. Officer groups, such as the Double Leaf Society, were formed with the fanatical beliefs of ultranationalism and the need to purge the Chōshū elements of the army. The Army became divided between the Kodoha (Imperial Way Faction) led by then Colonel Sadao Araki and the ''Toseiha'' (Control Group) led by General Kazushige Ugaki. The groups would eventually merge and incorporate ideas from right-wing, fascist ideologies and political philosophies. Influences were Kita Ikki and Nakano Seigo, amongst others. It drew on the secret political societies of the 1920s. Together, both groups formed a political movement to gain power by democratic elections, or if necessary, by force.
The Imperial Japanese Navy also encountered a split within. Faced with the limits imposed by the Washington Armaments Conference of 1921, the Navy split into two factions, the Fleet Faction and the Treaty Faction. Despite this, the civilian government during the 1920s managed to keep the military groups in check.
In 1928, Osachi Hamaguchi became the new prime minister and the public’s initial confidence in him allowed Hamaguchi's to successfully challenge the military radicals and get the London Naval Conference of 1930 treaty ratified. However, Hamaguchi fell victim to an assassination attempt when he was shot on November 14, 1930. The assassin was Tomeo Sagoya, a member of the Aikoku-sha (Love of Country Association), another ultranationalist secret sect. Hamaguchi survived but was hospitalized for several months. He returned to his post in March 1931 but resigned a month later.
In the following years tensions within the country began to rise. The country was in the midst of the Great Depression and early conflicts of the Second Sino-Japanese War were beginning. The target was the overt colonization of Manchuria and other key parts of China. Shortly the Kwantung Army took matters into its own hands, and moved through Manchuria. Japan and U.S. relations began to sour as the U.S. opposed Japan's territorial acquisitions.
Japanese military politics
The Kodoha faction was a political wing of the Imperial Armed forces. The real idea of the Army militarists, in the right-wing line, was a return to the old Shogunate system, but in the form of a modern Military Shogunate. Real power would fall to a leader, very similar to a Führer or Duce. On the other hand, the Navy militarists defended the Emperor and a monarchical constitution. For them the religious aspect was significant.
The Showa Emperor was an important nationalist symbol, taking its place in the constructed State Shintoism. Subjects believed him to be the supreme leader, with power to promote or dismiss in central government. The popular image was that he was well advised and had proper authoritative power, when in fact fictional advisers without real function.
Industrialists and militarism
At same time, the capitalist groups or ''zaibatsu'' (principally Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, Yasuda) envisioned themselves as the Krupps of the future. Raw materials were a major concern. Fumimaro Konoye pressed social concerns, and the need for capital, as a planned expansionist mission.
As World War II the reasons for the war, in hindsight, were largely economic. The seizure or protection of spheres of influence, the maintenance of territorial integrity, the acquisition of raw materials, and new Asian markets for commercial opportunities were all reasons.
Western nations, notably Britain, France, and the United States, had exhibited great interest in the commercial opportunities in China and other parts of Asia. These opportunities had attracted Western investment for the exploitation of raw materials for the manufacture of products not only for domestic consumption but for export of finished goods back to the Orient.
These opportunities were eyed covetously by Japan through what was to become known as the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Rise to power
In a close to chaotic political (and economic and social) situation, the military were considered politically "clean" in terms of political corruption. They assumed responsibility for 'restoring' the security of the nation. The armed forces took up criticism of the traditional democratic parties and regular government for many reasons. They were also closely aware of the effects of economic depression on the middle and lower classes, as well as the communist threat.
The economic growth the zaibatsu groups had enjoyed during WWI ended in the early 1920s, as the wartime levels of production drove down prices. Radical leftists in the labor unions (syndicalists, and Communists with Soviet outside support), came in the wake of Japan's industrial birth, attracting violence and social unrest to their causes. The military saw danger and decided to take action.
Under the Peace Preservations Acts (mid-1920s), the ''Kempeitai'' and other police and government security groups started to crack down on the unrest, that would last until the beginning of World War II. During this time the Army began to accumulate much more power. Secret societies began to flourish, and the Kwantung Army and the ''Kempeitai'' became largely autonomous.
Sadao Araki era
Araki Sadao was an important figurehead and "political and thinking father" of the Kodoha party (Imperial Way Faction). He was opposed by the ''Toseiha'' (Control Group) led by General Kazushige Ugaki. He linked the ancient (''bushido'' code) and European fascist ideals (Japanese fascism), to form the ideological basis of the Showa nationalism movement.
In September 1932, Totalitarianism, militarism, and expansionism were to becoming the rule and fewer voices would be able even to speak against it. In a news conference Araki first mentioned the philosophy of "''Kodoha''" (The Imperial Way). The concept of ''Kodo'' linked the Emperor, the people, land and morality as one and indivisible. This led to the creation of a "new" Shinto and increased Emperor worship.
Araki also devised ''Seishin Kyoiku'' (spiritual training) for the army and the ''Kikosaku'' security doctrine of the Kempeitai. The state was being transformed into a creation that served the Army and the Emperor, while the Army transformed into a fanatical force. Symbolically, the ''katana'' sword came back into fashion as the martial embodiment of these beliefs, and the Nambu pistol became its contemporary equivalent.
Hideki Tojo era
Hideki Tojo, the Minister of War, tried to maintain control over the army. In this respect, he had the reputation for being been the most able War Minister, and with the best results, since the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident in 1931. After the February 26 Incident of 1936, Tojo did his best to eliminate the Emperor's distrust of the Army.
The views of Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe and of Tojo clashed. Konoe was planning to bring the parleys with the United States to a successful close, by agreeing to the withdrawal of Japanese troops from China. Tojo, on the other hand, regarded this course of action as leading to the utter nullification of Japan's continental policy, and he strongly opposed it.
The difference in opinion gathered intensity after October 1941. Tojo spoke of the need to resolve upon war and urged such a policy to the Prime Minister. The differences between Tojo and Konoe finally led to the fall of the Prince's third cabinet. Tojo, who represented the "tough" militarists and right-wing elements, was then recommended to head the succeeding government.
The signal for war in the Pacific was given on August 26, 1941, at a session of the Black Dragon Society in Tokyo. At this meeting, War Minister Hideki Tojo ordered that preparation be made to wage a total war against the armed forces of the United States, and that Japanese guns be mounted and supplies and munitions concentrated in the Marshall and Caroline groups of islands by November, 1941. Approving Tojo's war orders, former Foreign Minister Koki Hirota, head of the Black Dragons secret services, discussed the advantages and consequences of a conflict with the United States. Many of those at the meeting considered December, 1941, or February, 1942, the most suitable time for Japan to attack.
During September 1941 the situation worsened with continued sanctions imposed against Japanese trade and became irreversibly worse in October 1941, when Hideki Tojo became the Kodoha party leader. At the same time he also became Japanese Prime Minister. He stated that he would "start the war with America, and after sixty days reshuffle the cabinet and become a great dictator".
On November 5, 1941, Prime Minister Tojo revealed to his inner circle that he felt war was increasingly certain to happen. A plan was drawn up by Army and Navy chiefs of staff . The Japanese military hierarchy planned a line of defense based on islands stretching from Rabaul in the Bismarck Archipelago to the Kuriles north of Japan, intending to swallow and digest the insular possessions of France, Britain, Holland, Australia, the Portuguese, and the United States. They would also finish off the Chinese with the notorious Twenty-One Demands. The "Indies" was crucial to the Japanese conquest planners. Without it, any embargo placed against Japan would be detrimental to the country.
On November 26, 1941, the United States proposed an agreement between them and Japan in the Hull Note. The Japanese Government decided not to comply with the demands listed. Due to events already put in motion, Japanese aircraft carriers leave that day for Pearl Harbor. At the Imperial Conference of December 1, it was determined to engage in open war against the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. Although the Government decided upon hostilities, it had no concrete plan for bringing the war to an end.
On Sunday December 7, the Imperial Japanese Navy attached the American military base at
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