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TheMilitary Academy incident (士官学校事件,Shikan Gakko Jiken), also known as theNovember incident (十一月事件,Juichigatsu Jiken) was an attemptedcoup d'état that took place in theEmpire of Japan in November 1934. It was one of a sequence of similar conspiracies for a "Shōwa Restoration" led by radical elements with theImperial Japanese Army.
The failed coup attempts in 1931 (theMarch Incident and theImperial Colors Incident) by theSakurakai, a secret society within the junior ranks of the Imperial Japanese Army officer corps promoting a vision of amilitaristictotalitarian system as an alternative to the perceived corrupt party politics dominated democratic government, inspired similar plans by other groups within the military.
In 1934, a group of fiveImperial Japanese Army Academy cadets led by two army officers belonging to the radical militaristImperial Way Faction at the academy, troubled by the perceived loss of influence of their faction over the military following the dismissal ofArmy MinisterSadao Araki in January 1934, formulated their own plan for overthrowing the government. However, in early November 1934, Sato, one of the cadets, informed the government authorities about the plan and its Imperial Way Faction involvement.
Forewarned, CaptainTsuji Masanobu, company commander at the Army Academy, arranged the arrest of the principals by theKempeitai on 20 November 1934, ending the possible coup d'état before it could even get started. For lack of evidence, the accused could not be convicted; but the five cadets were expelled from the academy in March 1935, and the two officers, Muranaka and Isobe were suspended for six months from duty in April 1935.
When the suspended officers Muranaka and Isobe later distributed pamphlets entitled "Remonstrance for the Restoration of Military Discipline" (otherwise known as "Views on the Housecleaning of the Army"), they were dismissed from the service outright in August 1935.
The Imperial Way Faction believed that Sato had been acting as a spy for Captain Tsuji all along, and that the whole affair was a trap laid by their rivals, theTōseiha faction to discredit GeneralJinzaburō Masaki, theInspector-General of Military Education, as the incident led to General Masaki's dismissal.
In retaliation, in what came to be known as theAizawa Incident (相沢事件,Aizawa jiken), an Imperial Way Faction officer, Lieutenant ColonelSaburo Aizawa, assassinated Mazaki's successor, Toseiha factionMajor GeneralTetsuzan Nagata on 12 August 1935, cutting him down with hissword in his office. Nagata was posthumously promoted tolieutenant general, and Aizawa was executed by firing squad after acourt martial held by theIJA 1st Division based in Tokyo. Army MinisterSenjūrō Hayashi was also forced to resign over the affair.
The Military Academy Incident and the Aizawa Incident were indicative of the increasing politicization andpolitical polarization of the Japanese military, and an increasing tendency to resolve political differences through force. The lack of action within the military leadership to suppress these tendencies, and the powerlessness of the civilian elected government over the military were contributing factors that led to the subsequentFebruary 26 Incident.
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