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| Control Faction | |
|---|---|
| 統制派 | |
 Lieutenant GeneralTetsuzan Nagata was the leader of theTōseiha until his assassination in theAizawa Incident in August 1935. | |
| Foundation | 1920s |
| Dissolved | c. 1940 |
| Country |  Japan |
| Motives | Reform of the Japanese government |
| Ideology | Conservatism Totalitarianism Militarism |
| Opponents | Imperial Way Faction |
TheTōseiha orControl Faction (統制派) was apolitical faction in theImperial Japanese Army active in the 1920s and 1930s. TheTōseiha was a grouping of generally conservativeofficers united primarily by their opposition to the radicalKōdōha (Imperial Way) faction and its aggressiveimperialist andanti-modernization ideals. TheTōseiha was led by Lieutenant GeneralTetsuzan Nagata (until his assassination in 1935) andHideki Tōjō, (later thePrime Minister of Japan). It rivaled theKōdōha for influence in the army until theFebruary 26 Incident in 1936, when theKōdōha wasde facto dissolved and many supporters were disciplined orexecuted. TheTōseiha became the primary influence in the army, but theKōdōha ideology and its supporters continued to influenceJapanese militarism into the late 1930s.
TheEmpire of Japan had enjoyedeconomic growth duringThe First World War but this ended in the early 1920s with theShōwa financial crisis. Social unrest increased with the growingpolarization of society andinequalities, with thelabor unions increasingly influenced bysocialism,communism andanarchism, but theindustrial andfinancial leaders of Japan continued to get wealthier through their inside connections with politicians andbureaucrats. The military was considered "clean" in terms ofpolitical corruption, and elements within the army were determined to take direct action to eliminate the perceived threats to Japan created by the weaknesses ofliberal democracy and political corruption.
Anultranationalist faction within the army called theKōdōha (Imperial Way) was formed by GeneralSadao Araki and hisprotégé,Jinzaburō Masaki, who envisioned a return to an idealized pre-industrialized, pre-westernized Japan. TheTōseiha formed in reaction to the radicalKōdōha and attempted to represent the more conservative and moderate elements within the army. TheTōseiha andKōdōha both adopted ideas fromtotalitarian andfascist political philosophies, and shared the fundamental ideals thatnational defense must be strengthened through a reform of national politics and espoused a strong skepticism forpolitical party politics andrepresentative democracy. Although the factions shared key ideals, opposition was based on how to achieve them.
TheTōseiha was a non-regional coalition, as opposed to Araki's reintroduction of regional politics into army promotions and policy decisions. ManyTōseiha members were promising graduates of theImperial Japanese Army Academy andArmy Staff College, and were concerned about Araki's emphasis of the spiritual morale of the army instead ofmodernization andmechanization. Rather than the confrontational approach of theKōdōha, which wanted to bring about theShowa Restoration through violence andrevolution, theTōseiha sought reform by working within the existing system. TheTōseiha foresaw that a future war would be atotal war, and to maximize Japan's industrial and military capacity would require the cooperation of Japan's bureaucracy and thezaibatsu conglomerates which theKōdōha despised.[1]
TheKōdōha strongly supported thehokushin-ron ("Northern Expansion Doctrine") strategy of apre-emptive strike against theSoviet Union in the belief thatSiberia was in Japan'ssphere of interest. Although there were supporters of the Northern Expansion in theTōseiha, the faction largely favored a more cautious defense expansion.[2]
The name "Tōseiha" waspejorative and was coined and was used only byKōdōha members and sympathizers.[citation needed]
In late 1931, theManchurian Incident and the subsequentJapanese invasion of Manchuria saw the two factions struggle against each other for greater influence over the military.[3] TheKōdōha were initially dominant, but after Araki's resignation in 1934 due to ill health their influence began to wane. TheFebruary 26 Incident in February 1936 caused a widespread purge of theKōdōha leadership from the military and the faction wasde facto dissolved, while theTōseiha became the dominant influence in the Japanese military but lost most of itsraison d'être and gradually disbanded.[4]
