Editing Tanaka Giichi

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Japan from 1927 to 1929}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{family name hatnote|Tanaka|lang=Japanese}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[Kazoku|Baron]]
| honorific_suffix    = 
| name                = Tanaka Giichi
| native_name         = {{nobold|田中 義一}}
| native_name_lang    = ja
| image               = Tanaka Giichi.jpg
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Japan]]
| monarch             = [[Hirohito]]
| term_start          = 20 April 1927
| term_end            = 2 July 1929
| predecessor         = [[Wakatsuki Reijirō]]
| successor           = [[Hamaguchi Osachi]]
| office1             = [[Rikken Seiyūkai|President of the Rikken Seiyūkai]]
| term_start1         = 10 April 1925
| term_end1           = 29 September 1929
| predecessor1        = [[Takahashi Korekiyo]]
| successor1          = [[Inukai Tsuyoshi]]
| office2             = [[Ministry of Colonial Affairs (Japan)|Minister of Colonial Affairs]]
| primeminister2      = ''Himself''
| term_start2         = 10 June 1929
| term_end2           = 2 July 1929
| predecessor2        = ''Office established''
| successor2          = [[Genji Matsuda]]
| office3             = [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]]
| primeminister3      = ''Himself''
| term_start3         = 20 April 1927
| term_end3           = 2 July 1929
| predecessor3        = [[Kijūrō Shidehara]]
| successor3          = Kijūrō Shidehara 
| office4             = [[Home Ministry (Japan)|Minister of Home Affairs]]
| primeminister4      = ''Himself''
| term_start4         = 4 May 1928
| term_end4           = 23 May 1928
| predecessor4        = [[Suzuki Kisaburō]]
| successor4          = [[Mochizuki Keisuke]]
| office5             = [[Army Ministry|Minister of the Army]]
| primeminister5      = [[Yamamoto Gonnohyōe]]
| term_start5         = 2 September 1923
| term_end5           = 7 January 1924
| predecessor5        = [[Yamanashi Hanzō]]
| successor5          = [[Ugaki Kazushige]]
| primeminister6      = [[Hara Takashi]]
| term_start6         = 20 September 1918
| term_end6           = 9 June 1921
| predecessor6        = [[Ōshima Ken'ichi]]
| successor6          = [[Yamanashi Hanzō]]
| office7             = Member of the [[House of Peers (Japan)|House of Peers]]
| term_start7         = 29 January 1926
| term_end7           = 29 September 1929 {{hanging indent|Nominated by the [[Emperor Taishō|Emperor]]}}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1864|6|22|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Hagi, Yamaguchi|Hagi]], [[Chōshū Domain]], [[Tokugawa shogunate|Japan]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1929|9|29|1864|6|22|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Tokyo]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
| restingplace        = Tama Reien Cemetery, [[Fuchū, Tokyo]]
| party               = [[Rikken Seiyūkai]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Tanaka Sute|1893}}
| children            = [[Tanaka Tatsuo]]
| alma_mater          = [[Imperial Japanese Army Academy]]<br>[[Army War College (Japan)|Army War College]]
| signature           = TanakaG kao.png
| module              = {{Infobox military person| embed = yes
|allegiance={{flag|Empire of Japan}}
|branch={{army|Empire of Japan}}
|serviceyears=1874–1924
|rank=[[File:帝國陸軍の階級―肩章―大将.svg|50px]] [[Four-star rank|General]]
}}
}}

[[Kazoku|Baron]] {{nihongo|'''Tanaka Giichi'''|田中 義一|extra=22 June 1864 – 29 September 1929}} was a Japanese general and politician who served as [[Prime Minister of Japan]] from 1927 to 1929.

Born to a ''[[samurai]]'' family in the [[Chōshū Domain]], Tanaka became an officer in the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] and rose through the ranks. He served as Minister of the Army under Prime Ministers [[Hara Takashi]] and [[Yamamoto Gonnohyōe]]. After retiring from active duty he accepted the presidency of the [[Rikken Seiyūkai]], a major conservative party. Following the resignation of the [[First Wakatsuki Cabinet|Wakatsuki Cabinet]] in 1927, Tanaka was appointed Prime Minister. In foreign affairs, he pursued a hawkish policy; in domestic affairs, he sought to suppress communist movements. Criticised for his handling of the unauthorised [[Huanggutun incident|assassination of Zhang Zuolin]] by a [[Kwangtung Army]] officer, he resigned in 1929 and died soon afterwards.

==Early life and military career==
Tanaka was born as the third son of a low-ranking ''[[samurai]]'' family in the service of [[Chōshū Domain]] in [[Hagi, Yamaguchi|Hagi]], [[Nagato Province]] (modern day [[Yamaguchi Prefecture]]), Japan. At the age of 13, he participated in the [[Hagi Rebellion]]. He had an interest in politics from an early age, serving on a village council and as an elementary school teacher. He only joined the Imperial Japanese Army at the age of 20.

He graduated from the former 8th class of [[Imperial Japanese Army Academy]] and the 8th class of the [[Army War College (Japan)|Army War College]] in 1892, and served as a junior officer during the [[First Sino-Japanese War]]. After the end of the war, he was sent as a [[military attaché]] to Moscow and [[Petrograd]], and was in [[Russia]] at the same time as [[Takeo Hirose]] of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]], with whom he became close friends. Tanaka was fluent in the [[Russian language]], which he learned while attending mass every Sunday at a [[Russian Orthodox]] church, which enabled him to practice his Russian at church social events, although it is uncertain if he ever actually converted to Christianity. As one of the few Russian experts within the military, he was an invaluable resource to Army planners during the [[Russo-Japanese War]], and served as aide to General [[Kodama Gentarō]] in [[Manchuria]].

[[File:Ken'ichi Ōshima with Giichi Tanaka and Yūsaku Uehara.jpg|thumb|left|Tanaka (left) walking with Generals [[Ōshima Ken'ichi]] (center) and Uehara (right), 1918]]

In 1906, Tanaka helped draft a defense plan which was so highly regarded by the [[Imperial Japanese Army General Staff]] and General [[Yamagata Aritomo]] that it was adopted as basic policy until [[World War I]]. He was also awarded the [[Order of the Golden Kite]] (3rd class) in April 1906.

In 1910, he established a Veterans Association. Tanaka was promoted to [[major general]] in 1911, and was made director of the Military Affairs Bureau at the [[Ministry of the Army]], where he recommended an increase in the strength of the standing army by two additional [[infantry]] divisions. He was awarded the [[Order of the Sacred Treasure]] (1st class) in September 1918. He joined the cabinet of [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]]s [[Hara Takashi]] as [[Ministry of the Army|Army Minister]] from September 1918 to June 1921. He was promoted to full general in 1920 and was awarded the [[Order of the Rising Sun]] (1st class). He was also elevated to the title of ''danshaku'' ([[baron]]) under the ''[[kazoku]]'' peerage system. However, the Hara cabinet came under unceasing criticism due to the [[Nishihara Loans]], the disastrous [[Nikolayevsk incident]] and accusations of Army misappropriation of secret funds, and supporting unsavory figures such as [[White Movement]] general [[Roman von Ungern-Sternberg]]. After suffering from an attack of [[angina pectoris|angina]], Tanaka resigned all posts, and retired to his summer home in [[Oiso, Kanagawa]].

==Political career==
[[File:Giichi Tanaka posing.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Tanaka, before 1929]]
Tanaka returned as Army Minister in the 2nd [[Yamamoto Gonnohyōe|Yamamoto]] administration from September 1923 to January 1924. After retiring from the army, Tanaka was invited to accept the post of party president of the ''[[Rikken Seiyūkai]]'' political party in 1925 and was made a member of the [[House of Peers (Japan)|House of Peers]] in January 1926. He had been scheduled to be promoted to the rank of [[Field Marshal (Japan)|Field Marshal]] at the time of his retirement. However, when news reached the ears of the Army Ministry of a 3 million Yen bonus that Tanaka received on agreeing to join the ''Rikken Seiyukai'', the promotion was denied.

Tanaka became [[Prime Minister of Japan]] on 20 April 1927, during the [[Shōwa financial crisis]], serving simultaneously as the [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Foreign Affairs Minister]]. He later added the posts of [[Home Ministry (Japan)|Home Minister]] (4 May 1928 to 23 May 1928), and [[Ministry of Colonial Affairs (Japan)|Colonial Affairs Minister]] (10 June 1929 to 2 July 1929) to his portfolio.

On the domestic front, Tanaka attempted to suppress leftists, [[Japanese Communist Party|Communists]] and suspected Communist sympathizers through widespread arrests (the [[15 March incident]] of 1928, and the [[19 April incident]] of 1929).

On foreign policy, Tanaka differed from his predecessor Shidehara both tactically and strategically. Whereas Shidehara preferred to evacuate Japanese residents where conflicts occurred with local people, Tanaka preferred using military force. While Shidehara theoretically respected China's sovereignty, Tanaka openly pursued a {{nihongo|"separation of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia policy"|満蒙分離政策|Man-Mō bunri seisaku}} to [[Manchuria-Mongolia problem|create a sense of difference]] between those areas and the rest of China.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of Japan|volume=6|first=John Whitney|last=Hall|year=1988|pages=286–287}}</ref> On three separate occasions in 1927 and 1928 he sent troops to intervene militarily in [[Shandong]] Province to block [[Chiang Kai-shek]]'s [[Northern Expedition]] to unify China under [[Kuomintang]] rule, in what became known as the [[Jinan Incident]].

Tanaka came into office even as forces were already beginning to converge that would draw Japan into [[World War II]]. In 1928, however, the machinations of the ultranationalist secret societies and the [[Kwantung Army]] resulted in a crisis: the [[Huanggutun incident|assassination]] of the Manchurian warlord [[Zhang Zuolin]] and the failed attempt to seize [[Manchuria]]. Tanaka himself was taken by surprise by the assassination plot and argued that the officers responsible should be publicly [[court-martial]]ed for homicide. The military establishment, from which Tanaka was by now estranged, insisted on covering up the facts of the incident, which remained an official secret. Bereft of support, and under mounting criticism in the [[Diet of Japan|Diet]] and even from emperor [[Hirohito]] himself, Tanaka and his cabinet resigned en masse on 2 July 1929.

[[File:Takahashi Korekiyo.jpg|thumb|Prime Ministers [[Korekiyo Takahashi]] (1854–1936, in office 1921–22, left) and [[Giichi Tanaka]] (1864–1929, in office 1927–29)]]

Tanaka was succeeded by [[Hamaguchi Osachi]], and died a few months after his resignation. He was awarded the [[Order of the Paulownia Flowers]] on his death. His grave is at the [[Tama Cemetery]] in [[Fuchū, Tokyo]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/announcement/077/pdf/TOKYO%20METROPOLITAN%20TAMA%20CEMETERY%20.pdf |title=Tama Cemetery |access-date=14 November 2019 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624203032/https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/announcement/077/pdf/TOKYO%20METROPOLITAN%20TAMA%20CEMETERY%20.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Tanaka Memorial==
In 1929, China accused Tanaka of having authored the "[[Tanaka Memorial]] Imperialist Conquest Plan," which advocated the conquest of Manchuria, Mongolia, and eventually the whole of China. He was alleged to have presented the plan to the emperor in 1927. The plan was presented as fact in the wartime propaganda film series ''[[Why We Fight]]'', which claimed that the plan envisaged the conquest of America after East Asia.<ref>Dower, John W (1987). War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. Pantheon. {{ISBN|0-394-75172-8}}. p.&nbsp;22.</ref> In a memoir published in the mid-1950s, a Japanese-born Taiwanese businessman, Tsai Chih-Kan, claimed that he had personally copied the "Plan" from the Imperial Library on the night of 20 June 1928 in a covert action assisted by several of Japan's leading prewar politicians and officers, who were opposed to Tanaka. Today, most historians regard the document as a forgery.<ref>[http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/s/article/2008010190071313.html 日本批判の根拠『田中上奏文』　中国側　『偽物』認める見解] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102024751/http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/s/article/2008010190071313.html |date=2 January 2008}}, [[Tokyo Shimbun]], 1 January 2008</ref>{{sfn|Dower|1987|p=33}}

==Awards and decorations==
''From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia''

===Japanese===
* 1906 – [[File:JPN Kinshi-kunsho 3Class BAR.svg|50px|link=Order of the Golden Kite]] [[Order of the Golden Kite]], 3rd class<ref>[http://www.geocities.jp/nakanolib/giten/kinshi2.htm 中野文庫 旧・金鵄勲章受章者一覧]</ref>
* 1918 – [[File:JPN Zuiho-sho (WW2) 1Class BAR.svg|50px|link=Order of the Sacred Treasure]] Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st Class<ref>"Kanpo" No. 1850 "Investiture and Appointments" (in Japanese) 2 October 1918.</ref>
* 1920 – [[File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho (WW2) 1Class BAR.svg|50px|link=Order of the Rising Sun]] Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun<ref>"Kanpo" No. 2431 "Investiture and Appointments" (in Japanese) 8 September 1920.</ref>
* 1929 –  [[File:JPN Toka-sho BAR.svg|50px|link=Order of the Paulownia Flowers|Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers]] Order of the Paulownia Flowers<ref>"Kanpo" No. 828 "Investiture and Appointments" (in Japanese) 1 October 1929.</ref>

===Foreign===
* 1914 –  [[File:St.AlexanderOrder-ribbon.svg|50px|link=Order of Saint Alexander (Bulgaria)|Order of Saint Alexander]] – [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], [[Order of Saint Alexander (Bulgaria)|Order of Saint Alexander]] 2nd class<ref>"Kanpo" No. 644 "Investiture and Appointments" (in Japanese) 22 September 1914.</ref>
* 1918 –  [[File:Order of the Striped Tiger GC ribbon.svg|50px|link=Order of the Striped Tiger]] – [[Republic of China|China]], [[Order of the Striped Tiger]], 2nd class<ref>"Kanpo" No. 1695 "Investiture and Appointments" (in Japanese) 30 March 1918.</ref>
* 1927 –  [[File:POL Polonia Restituta Wielki BAR.svg|50px|link=Order of Polonia Restituta]] – [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], [[Order of Polonia Restituta]], Grand Cordon<ref>"Kanpo" No. 828 "Investiture and Appointments" (in Japanese) 9 October 1927.</ref>
* 1929 –  [[File:Order of the Dannebrog K.svg|50px|link=Order of the Dannebrog]] – [[Kingdom of Denmark|Denmark]], [[Order of the Dannebrog]], 1st class<ref>"Kanpo" No. 777 "Investiture and Appointments" (in Japanese) 1 August 1929.</ref>
* 1929 –  [[File:UK Order St-Michael St-George ribbon.svg|50px|link=Order of Saint Michael and Saint George]] – [[United Kingdom|UK]], [[Knight Commander of The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George]] (KCMG)<ref>"Kanpo" No. 828 "Investiture and Appointments" (in Japanese) 1 October 1929.</ref>
* 1929 –  [[File:Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon.png|50px|link=Order of the British Empire]] – [[United Kingdom|UK]], [[Knight Grand Cross of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire]] (GBE)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |last= Dower |first= John W. |year= 1987 |title= War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War |publisher= Pantheon |isbn = 0-394-75172-8 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/warwithoutmercy00john_0 }}
* [[Carol Gluck|Gluck, Carol]]. ''Japan's Modern Myths''. Princeton University Press (1987). {{ISBN|0-691-00812-4}}
*Hane, Mikiso. ''Modern Japan: A Historical Survey''. Westview Press (2001). {{ISBN|0-8133-3756-9}}
*Harries, Meirion. ''Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army''. Random House; Reprint edition (1994). {{ISBN|0-679-75303-6}}
* Morton, William Finch. ''Tanaka Giichi and Japan's China Policy.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.
*{{cite book| last = Fukagawa  | first = Hideki | year = 1981 | title = (陸海軍将官人事総覧 (陸軍篇)) Army and Navy General Personnel Directory (Army) | publisher = Fuyo Shobo | location = Tokyo | isbn = 4829500026}}
*{{cite book  | last = Dupuy  | first = Trevor N.  | year = 1992  | title = Encyclopedia of Military Biography  | publisher = I B Tauris & Co Ltd  | isbn = 1-85043-569-3  | url-access = registration  | url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmi0000dupu  }}
*{{cite book | last = Hata | first = Ikuhiko | year = 2005 | title = (日本陸海軍総合事典) Japanese Army and Navy General Encyclopedia| publisher = St. Martin's Press | location = Tokyo| isbn = 4130301357}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Giichi Tanaka}}
{{wikisource author}}
* [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0847768.html Biography at infoplease.com]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/031620}}

{{Prime Ministers of Japan}}
{{Japanese foreign ministers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Giichi}}
[[Category:1864 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:Kazoku]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Yamaguchi Prefecture]]
[[Category:Japanese generals]]
[[Category:Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War]]
[[Category:Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War]]
[[Category:People of Meiji-era Japan]]
[[Category:Rikken Seiyūkai politicians]]
[[Category:Rikken Seiyūkai prime ministers of Japan]]
[[Category:20th-century prime ministers of Japan]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Peers (Japan)]]
[[Category:Ministers for foreign affairs of Japan]]
[[Category:Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta]]
[[Category:Order of the Dannebrog]]
[[Category:Politicians from Yamaguchi Prefecture]]
[[Category:Burials at Tama Cemetery]]