1923 in Japan

← 1922 1921 1920 1923 in Japan → 1924 1925 1926
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
See also:	Other events of 1923 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 1923 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 12 (大正12年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Taishō^[1]
• Regent: Hirohito
• Prime Minister:
  • Katō Tomosaburō (until August 24)
  • Yamamoto Gonnohyōe (from September 2)

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Hikoji Kawaguchi (until 16 June); Masahiro Ota (starting 16 June)
• Akita Prefecture: Masao Kishimoto
• Aomori Prefecture: Yujiro Ozaki (until 25 October); Kazue Baba (starting 25 October)
• Ehime Prefecture: Juunosuke Miyazaki
• Fukui Prefecture: Josuke Shiraogawa
• Fukushima Prefecture: Iwata Mamoru (until 25 October); Kosaka Masayasu (starting 25 October)
• Gifu Prefecture: Manpei Ueda
• Gunma Prefecture: Yamaoka Kunitoshi
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Kamehiko Abe (until 25 October); Jiro Yamagata (starting 25 October)
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Genjiro Moriya (until 25 October); Shohei Fujinuma (starting 25 October)
• Iwate Prefecture: Ushidzuka Torataro
• Kagawa Prefecture: Shuji Sasaki (until 25 October); Nakagawa Kenzo (starting 25 October)
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Yasukouchi Asakichi
• Kochi Prefecture: Toyoji Obata (until 25 October); Fujioka Hyoichi (starting 25 October)
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Tadahiko Okada (until 12 October); Chisato Tanaka (starting 12 October)
• Kyoto Prefecture: Tokikazu Ikematsu
• Mie Prefecture: Saburo Shibata (until 25 October); Tago Ilman (starting 25 October)
• Miyagi Prefecture: Yuichiro Chikaraishi
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Muneyoshi Oshiba (until 25 October); Saito Munenori (starting 25 October)
• Nagano Prefecture: Toshio Honma
• Niigata Prefecture: Ota Masahiro (until 11 June); Ohara Sanarata (starting 11 June)
• Okayama Prefecture: Masao Kishimoto
• Okinawa Prefecture: Jyun Wada (until 25 October); Ki Iwamoto (starting 25 October)
• Saga Prefecture: Tominaga
• Saitama Prefecture: Horiuchi Hidetaro (until 25 October); Motoda Tashio (starting 25 October)'
• Shiga Prefecture: Kaiichiro Suematsu (starting month unknown)
• Shiname Prefecture: Sanehide Takarabe (until 25 October); Naganobu Ren (starting 25 October)
• Tochigi Prefecture: Haruki Yamawaki
• Tokyo: Katsuo Usami
• Toyama Prefecture: Kihachiro Ito
• Yamagata Prefecture: Agata Shinobu

Events

• April unknown date – Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical was founded, as predecessor part of Astellas Pharma.^{[citation needed]}
• May 21–25 – 1923 Far Eastern Games held in Osaka.^[2]
• August 24 – Prime Minister Katō Tomosaburō dies in office.
• August 29 – Fuji Electric Manufacturing, later Fuji Electric was founded.^{[citation needed]}
• September 1 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing an estimated 142,807 people, but according to a Japanese construction research center report in 2005, 105,000 are confirmed dead. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes.^[3]
• September 1-21 - Kantō Massacre: Young Japanese vigilante groups, driven by rumors of a Korean revolt, attack and murder thousands of Korean residents.
• September 2
  • Yamamoto Gonnohyōe is appointed Prime Minister of Japan.
  • Martial law declared in Tokyo districts
• September 3–5 – Kameido incident
• September 4 – The area of martial law is expanded to cover all of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama prefectures.
• September 7 – A Curfew is issued in Tokyo.
• September 16 – Amakasu Incident: The feminist Noe Itō and her partner, the anarchist Sakae Ōsugi are beaten and killed by a police squadron led by Lieutenant Amakasu Masahiko, along with Ōsugi's six-year-old nephew, and their bodies disposed in a well. Following countrywide outcry, Amakasu was court-martialed and sentenced to 10 years in prison.^[4]
• December 27 – Toranomon Incident: An assassination attempt is made on the crown prince Hirohito in Tokyo by Daisuke Namba, but the attempt fails.
• Unknown date –Yamanouchi Pharmacy, as predecessor of Astellas was founded.^{[citation needed]}

Births

• March 27 – Shūsaku Endō, writer (d. 1996)
• May 24 – Seijun Suzuki, filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
• June 4 – Yuriko, Princess Mikasa, wife of Prince Takahito
• August 7 – Ryōtarō Shiba, writer (d. 1996)
• October 7 – Tomio Aoki, film actor (d. 2004)

Deaths

• January 8 – Shimamura Hayao, Marine Admiral (b. 1858)
• February 3 – Kuroki Tamemoto general (b. 1844)
• February 4 – Prince Fushimi Sadanaru, Field Marshal (b. 1858)
• April 1 – Prince Naruhisa Kitashirakawa, military personnel (b. 1887)
• June 9
  • Takeo Arishima, novelist, writer and essayist (suicide) (b. 1878)
  • Akiko Hatano, journalist (suicide) (b. 1894)
• June 19 – Shō Shō, member of the House of Peers (b. 1888)
• August 24 – Katō Tomosaburō, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1861)
• September 1 – Matsuoka Yasukowa, politician and cabinet minister (B. 1846)
• September 2 – Kuriyagawa Hakuson, literary critic (b. 1880)
• September 16
  • Noe Itō, anarchist, social critic and author (b. 1895)
  • Sakae Ōsugi, anarchist (b. 1885)
• November 8 – Fusakichi Omori, seismologist (b. 1868)
• November 26 – Otani Kikuzo, general (b. 1856)
• December 29 – Kōno Hironaka, politician (b. 1849)

See also

• List of Japanese films of the 1920s

References