Tōseiha

nihongo|Tōseiha, or Control Faction|統制派| Tōseiha was a political faction in the Imperial Japanese Army, active in the 1920s and 1930s.

Led by General Kazushige Ugaki, along with Hajime Sugiyama, Koiso Kuniaki, Yoshijiro Umezu, Tetsuzan Nagata and Hideki Tojo, the "Tōseiha" was a grouping of officers united primarily by their opposition to the "Kōdōha" faction led by General Araki Sadao. The name “"Tōseiha"” was actually a pejorative coined by (and only used by) "Kōdōha" members and sympathizers.

The "Tōseiha" attempted to represent the more politically conservative (moderate) elements within the army, as opposed to the radical and ultranationalist "Kōdōha". The "Tōseiha" was a non-regional coalition, as opposed to Araki's reintroduction of regional politics into army promotions and policy decisions. Many members were promising graduates of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and Army Staff College, and were concerned about Araki's emphasis of the spiritual élan of the army over modernization and mechanization. Whereas the "Kōdōha" was strongly supportive of the "hokushin-ron" strategy of a preemptive strike against the Soviet Union, the "Tōseiha" favored a more cautious defense expansion. [Samuels, Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia, page 27]

Fundamental to both factions, however, was the common belief that national defense must be strengthened through a reform of national politics. Both factions adopted some ideas from totalitarian, fascist and state socialist political philosophies, and espoused a strong skepticism for political party politics and representative democracy. However, rather than the confrontational approach of the "Kōdōha", which wanted to bring about a revolution (the Showa Restoration), the "Tōseiha" foresaw that a future war would be a total war, and would require the cooperation of the bureaucracy and the zaibatsu to maximize Japan’s industrial and military capacity. [ Buruma, Inventing Japan, 1854-1964, page 98]

After the Manchurian Incident, the two cliques struggled against each other for dominance over the military. After Araki's resignation in 1934 and the failure of the February 26 Incident in 1936, with its subsequent purge of the "Kōdōha" leadership from the military, the "Tōseiha" lost most of its raison-d'etre. [Harries, Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army, page 191] Under Hideki Tojo and Muto Akira, the two factions merged into the Imperial Way Faction nationalist party.

ee also

*Kōdōha

References

*cite book
last = Buruma
first = Ian
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2004
title = Inventing Japan, 1854-1964
publisher = Modern Library
location =
id = ISBN 0812972864
*cite book
last = Harries
first = Meirion
year = 1994
title = Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army
publisher = Random House; Reprint edition
location =
id = 0-679-75303-6
*cite book
last = Samuels
first = Richard J
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2007
title = Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia
publisher = Cornell University Press
location =
id = ISBN 0801446120

Notes