Excerpts from "Growing Pains: The Development of Showa Democracy" I. Miyabi, Kondasha, Tokyo, 1994.
THE trial of Captain Koji Yoshioka and Lieutenant Shinichi Miyabara for publicly beating Nobusuke Kishi attracted widespread attention within the Imperial Japanese Army and beyond. Within the Army, sympathy for Yoshioka and Miyabara was nearly universal,to the point that it proved difficult to find a willing prosecutor.
The trial itself would be challenging, as neither defendant denied their role in the assault on Kishi. Both, in fact, attempted to take full responsibility for the act in order to spare the other, which played well to the court of public opinion. However, it would prove to be not so simple a matter for the defence, as neither officer denied what they did. Each simply stated that they were defending a woman they were sworn to protect, and would not permit dishonour to be brought to the houses of Miyabara and Yoshioka, nor their fathers before them. All further communication was through counsel.
Yoshioka and Miyabara, to Kishi's grave concern, had powerful allies. Yoshioka's commanding officer happened to be Lieutenant Colonel Morihiro Higashikuni, son of General Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni. General Prince Higashikuni reported to the Commanding Officer of the 1st China Expeditionary Army, Marshal-General Count Hisaichi Terauchi.
Terauchi was furious about the proceedings. In his view, that the officers were being prosecuted at all was a sign of the Army bowing to outside political pressure, and that the matter was, as far as he was concerned, settled. Bushido permitted the husband and brother of a woman who suffered such an attack to seek vengeance against the man who beat and attempted to rape her. In Marshal Count Terauchi's view, Yoshioka and Miyabara were absolutely justified in their actions, as it was a clear-cut matter of personal and familial honour. He wrote several stern letters to Marshal-General Prince Morimasa Nashimoto, Chief of General Staff, and General Shizuichi Tanaka, Director of the kempeitai, urging them to vacate the trial or decline to prosecute. Although they did not comply with Terauchi's request, it was widely speculated that the lesser charge was included at his suggestion.
Marshal-General Shunroku Hata, Commanding Officer of the Kwantung Army, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place was more reserved, but he nonetheless weighed in on the matter. Although phrased far more mildly, his position was broadly in agreement with Count Terauchi's. He wrote:
"In a delicate matter such as this, it is especially important that justice is served to the fullest extent and all factors are considered. This is not a case in which the prosecution service should seek to advance careers or establish landmark precedent. It is not my intention to direct the outcome of this trial, but simply to underscore that whatever decision is made will have far-reaching consequences."
However, Kishi was not without his own advocates in the Army. Chief among these was his close personal friend, General Hideki Tojo. Tojo also wrote to Marshal Prince Nashimoto:
"Despite our personal feelings on the matter, we must have one standard of behaviour in the Army. Either it is acceptable for officers to beat civilians when they are not personallly threatened, or it is not. We cannot allow junior officers to dictate Army policy to us, nor allow Japan's dignity to be diminished by tolerating nonsensical inconsistency."
While the trial proceeded, Kishi's fate would be disrupted further with another event...