Editing Hirohito (section)

=== Early reign ===
The first part of Hirohito's reign took place against a background of [[Shōwa financial crisis|financial crisis]] and increasing military power within the government through both legal and extralegal means. The [[Imperial Japanese Army]] and [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] held [[veto]] power over the formation of cabinets since 1900. Between 1921 and 1944, there were 64 separate incidents of political violence.

Hirohito narrowly escaped assassination by a hand [[grenade]] thrown by a [[Korean independence movement|Korean independence]] activist, [[Lee Bong-chang]], in Tokyo on 9 January 1932, in the [[Sakuradamon incident (1932)|Sakuradamon Incident]].

Another notable case was the assassination of moderate [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] [[Inukai Tsuyoshi]] in 1932, marking the end of [[Civil control of the military|civilian control of the military]]. The [[February 26 incident]], an attempted [[coup d'état]], followed in February 1936. It was carried out by junior Army officers of the ''[[Imperial Way Faction|Kōdōha]]'' faction who had the sympathy of many high-ranking officers including [[Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu]], one of Hirohito's brothers. This revolt was occasioned by a loss of political support by the militarist faction in [[Diet of Japan|Diet]] elections. The coup resulted in the murders of several high government and Army officials.

When Chief [[Aide-de-camp to the Emperor of Japan|Aide-de-camp]] [[Shigeru Honjō]] informed him of the revolt, Hirohito immediately ordered that it be put down and referred to the officers as "rebels" (''bōto''). Shortly thereafter, he ordered [[Ministry of War of Japan|Army Minister]] [[Yoshiyuki Kawashima]] to suppress the rebellion within the hour. He asked for reports from Honjō every 30 minutes. The next day, when told by Honjō that the high command had made little progress in quashing the rebels, the Emperor told him "I Myself, will lead the [[Imperial Guard (Japan)|Konoe Division]] and subdue them." The rebellion was suppressed following his orders on [[February 26 incident#Events of February 29, 1936|29 February]].<ref>Mikiso Hane, ''Emperor Hirohito and His Chief Aide-de-camp, The Honjō Diary'', 1983; ''Honjō Nikki'', Hara Shobō, 1975.</ref>