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Kingorō Hashimoto | |
|---|---|
橋本 欣五郎 | |
 | |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office 30 April 1942 – 1 December 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Multi-member district |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Constituency | Fukuoka 4th |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1890-02-19)19 February 1890 |
| Died | 29 June 1957(1957-06-29) (aged 67) Tokyo, Japan |
| Party | Imperial Rule Assistance Association |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Empire of Japan |
| Branch/service |  Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1911–1939 |
| Rank |  Colonel |
Kingorō Hashimoto (橋本 欣五郎,Hashimoto Kingorō; 19 February 1890 – 29 June 1957) was an officer in theImperial Japanese Army and politician. He was famous for having twice tried to stage a coup against the civilian government in the 1930s.[1]
Hashimoto was born inOkayama City, and a graduate of the 23rd class of theImperial Japanese Army Academy in 1911. He subsequently graduated from theArmy Staff College in 1920. The services ofAikido founderMorihei Ueshiba were offered to Hashimoto byOomoto leaderOnisaburo Deguchi. In April 1922, he was assigned to theKwantung Army inManchuria and was stationed atHarbin. In 1923, he was sent on special assignment toManzhouli, near the border with the Soviet Union. From September 1927 through June 1930, he was reassigned asmilitary attaché to Turkey. On his return to Japan, he was posted to theImperial Japanese Army General Staff, and headed the Russia section. He was promoted to colonel in August 1930 and became an instructor at the Army Staff College in October.
From the middle of 1930, Hashimoto became increasingly involved inright-wing politics within the military, with active participation in various attempts at acoup d'état. He was also a founder of radicalsecret societies within the army.
Hashimoto actively participated in theMarch incident of 1931. TheSakurakai (Cherry Blossom Society) was secretly formed by him and CaptainIsamu Chō. It sought political reform with the elimination of party government by a coup d'état and the establishment of a new cabinet under the control of the military to stamp out Japan's allegedly-corrupt politics, economy, and thought. That literally meant a reversal of the Westernization of Japan.
The attempt failed, but Hashimoto, along withIsamu Chō andShūmei Ōkawa, organized a further coup, theImperial Colors Incident, also known as the October Incident. All the conspirators were arrested and transferred to other posts. There were also suspicions of the instigation by Hashimoto and Araki in the final attempt, theMilitary Academy Incident.
Despite his failures, Hashimoto continued as an active radical thinker during World War II. He was involved in theTaisei Yokusankai (Imperial Rule Assistance Association). He proposed anationalist one-party dictatorship. The militarists had strong industrial support but also “socialist-nationalist” sentiments on the part of radical officers like Hashimoto. Supporters ofFumimaro Konoe's "Right-Socialist" revolution (populist ideas, which were rooted in the poorest farmers, fishermen, and industrial workers) opposed the "right-wing" militarists represented bySenjuro Hayashi in the same "revolutionary grouping".
He was involved in thePanay incident of 12 December 1937 in which unprovoked Japanese bombers attacked and sank theUSS Panay (PR-5) on theYangtze River inChina. Hashimoto was the senior Japanese officer in the region, and a few days after the sinking, he was quoted in US newspapers as saying "I had orders to fire." Still, US-Japanese relations continued to sour in the aftermath of the incident, which would eventually lead to thePacific War.
Hashimoto greatly supported aggressive policies during theSecond Sino-Japanese War and theTripartite Pact withNazi Germany andFascist Italy in 1940, along with the other military extremists of theImperial Japanese Army.
Hashimoto was elected to theHouse of Representatives in 1942 and became a member of theImperial Rule Assistance Political Association. He also served as deputy commander of theYokusan Sonendan from August 1944 to February 1945.
After the end of the war, he was sentenced to life imprisonment inSugamo Prison by theInternational Military Tribunal for the Far East.[2] He died in 1957.[2]
Media related toHashimoto Kingoro at Wikimedia Commons
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