Nishida Mitsugi

Nishida Mitsugi

Nishida Mitsugi ( Japanese 西 田 税 , also known by the readings Nishida Mitsugu or Mishida Zei; born October 3, 1901 in Tottori Prefecture ; died August 19, 1937 in Tōkyō ) was a Japanese military man and thinker.

Live and act

Nishida Mitsugi graduated from the Hiroshima Military Preparatory School and continued his education at the Army Academy. There he organized a group of cadets to discuss political issues. He graduated from the Academy in 1922, but retired from active service in 1925.

Then he began to be politically active and became a student of the right-wing radical thinker Kita Ikki . The two worked to convince young army officers that Japan needed a new government to replace the old regime of corrupt politicians. From 1927 Nishida tried to join his comrades-in-arms in a group that should call itself Tenkentō (天 剣 nennen), about Sky Sword Party. But he gave up when the military police discovered his plan. It remained with an informal group under the name "Movement of Young Officers" (青年 将 校 運動, His Shōkō Undō). They also contacted other right-wing organizations through Nishida.

When the young officers of the aforementioned movement started an attempted coup on February 26, 1939 , in which some high-ranking politicians were murdered, Nishida was not actively involved. As a spiritual trailblazer, like Kita, he was one of those who were sentenced to death.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Nishida Mitsugi . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1098.

Web links

Commons : Mitsugi Nishida  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Nishida is the family name, Mitsugi the first name.