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Tōyama Mitsuru (頭山 満; 27 May 1855 – 5 October 1944) was a Japaneseultranationalist activist who founded the secret societiesGenyosha (Black Ocean Society) andKokuryukai (Black Dragon Society).[1][2] Tōyama was anAnti-Communist and a strong proponent ofPan-Asianism.[3]
Tōyama was born to a poorsamurai family inFukuoka City inKyūshū. In his youth, he fought in theSaga Rebellion of 1874.
In 1881, Tōyama became one of the founders of theGenyosha, a secret society whose agenda was to agitate for Japanese military expansion and conquest of theAsian continent. The society attracted disaffected ex-samurai, and also figures involved in organized crime to assist in its campaigns of violence and assassination againstleft-wingpoliticians. In 1889, Tōyama and theGenyosha were implicated in the attempted assassination offoreign ministerŌkuma Shigenobu.
Tōyama was both a founder and one-time head of theBlack Dragon Society.
Immediately prior to the start of theFirst Sino-Japanese War, Tōyama organized theTenyukyo, a secret society andparamilitary force that operated inKorea prior to the arrival of theImperial Japanese Army, making detailed topographic maps, scouting out Chinese and Korean military installations and deployment, and arranging for logistic support. Along withGenyosha operatives in Korea and Manchuria, theTenyukyo provided interpreters and guides to the regular Japanese army after their invasion.
Tōyama was a strong supporter of Japanese control overManchuria and joined forces with the anti-RussianTairo Doshikai movement in 1903. He also supported the Chinese republican revolutionaries against theQing dynasty and gave considerable support toSun Yat-sen. When the1911 Revolution occurred, 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 1911 Revolution, Tōyama officially retired, and apparently refused to play an active role in theBlack Dragon Society (Kokuryu-Kai) that he helped create as a successor to theGenyosha. He remained an influential behind-the-scenes figure in Japanese politics during the following years.
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.[4]
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 theyakuza crime syndicates. He also wrote an influential book on the "Three Shu" (Katsu Kaishū,Takahashi Deishu, andYamaoka Tesshū). Despite his ultranationalism, Tōyama was paradoxically on good terms withOnisaburo Deguchi, Japan's most ferventpacifist. 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 onGotemba,Shizuoka Prefecture, at the base ofMount Fuji.
Radio Tokyo announced that funeral services lasting more than three hours were held for him in Tokyo.[5]
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