Tatenokai
| Tatenokai | |
|---|---|
| 楯の會 | |
| Leader | Far-right |
| Size | approx. 90 |
The Tatenokai (楯の会, 楯の會) or Shield Society was a
private militia in Japan dedicated to traditional Japanese values and veneration of the Emperor. It was founded and led by author Yukio Mishima
.
Background
The Tatenokai was created on October 5, 1968, recruiting its membership primarily from the staff of Ronsō Journal, an obscure right-wing
Japanese Diet who would become the Defense Agency chief and Prime Minister.[4]
1970 coup attempt
| Part of a series on |
| Conservatism in Japan |
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On November 25, 1970 Mishima and four Tatenokai members briefly seized control of the Self-Defense Force's headquarters and attempted to rally the soldiers to stage a coup d'état and restore imperial rule. When this failed, Mishima and Masakatsu Morita, the Tatenokai's main student leader, committed seppuku (ritual suicide). The rest of the members, around 90 people, were not informed about Mishima's plan at all.
Participants
- Yukio Mishima, leader
- Hiroyasu Koga, Kanagawa University
- Masayoshi Koga, Kanagawa University
- Masakatsu Morita, Waseda University
- Masahiro Ogawa, Meiji Gakuin University
Inspired events
On 3 March 1977, four Japanese nationalists took 12 hostages at the Keidanren Kaikan (headquarters and hall of
Japan Federation of Economic Organizations), spreading leaflets at the scene that denounced big business. The hostages were released, unharmed, after an eleven-hour standoff during which the hostage-takers spoke for more than three hours to Mishima's widow, Yoko. Two of the hostage-takers – Yoshio Ito and Shunichi Nishio – were believed to have been former members of the Tatenokai.[5][6]
References
- ^ Nicholas Bornoff, ed. (1991). Pink Samurai: The Pursuit and Politics of Sex in Japan. p. 432.
- ISBN 9780544340053.
- ^ ISBN 9780472119677.
- ISBN 9780761868095.
- St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ Sato, Hideaki & Inoue, Takashi (2005). 決定版 三島由紀夫全集・第42巻・年譜・書誌 [Final edition-Yukio Mishima complete works No.42-Biographical sketch and Bibliography] (in Japanese). Shinchosha. p. 344－345.