1903 in Japan explained

Events in the year 1903 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 36 (明治36年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor

Emperor Meiji^[1]

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture

Masaaki Nomura

• Akita Prefecture: Shiba Sankarasu then Ichiro Tsubaki
• Aomori Prefecture: Ichiji Yamanouchi then Katsutaro Inuzuka then Shotaro Nishizawa
• Ehime Prefecture: Tai Neijro
• Fukui Prefecture: Suke Sakamoto
• Fukushima Prefecture: Arita Yoshisuke
• Gifu Prefecture: Kawaji Toshikyo
• Gunma Prefecture: Yoshimi Teru
• Hiroshima Prefecture

• Ibaraki Prefecture

Chuzo Kono then Teru Terahara

• • Iwate Prefecture: Ganri Hojo Kagawa Prefecture: Motohiro Onoda
• Kochi Prefecture: Kinyuu Watanabe then Munakata Tadashi
• Kumamoto Prefecture

Egi Kazuyuki

• Kyoto Prefecture

Baron Shoichi Omori

• Mie Prefecture: Kamon Furusha
• Miyagi Prefecture

Terumi Tanabe

• • Miyazaki Prefecture: Toda Tsunetaro Nagano Prefecture

• Niigata Prefecture

Hiroshi Abe

• • Oita Prefecture: Marques Okubo Toshi Takeshi Okinawa Prefecture

Shigeru Narahara

• Saga Prefecture

Fai Kagawa

• Saitama Prefecture

Marquis Okubo Toshi Takeshi

• Shiga Prefecture

Sada Suzuki

• Shiname Prefecture: Ryogen Kaneo then Matsunaga Takeyoshi
  • Tochigi Prefecture: Sugai Makoto Tokushima Prefecture: Saburo Iwao
• Tokyo

Baron Sangay Takatomi

• Toyama Prefecture: Rika Ryusuke
  • Yamagata Prefecture: Tanaka Takamichi Yamanashi Prefecture: Takeda Chiyosaburo

Events

• March 1  - 1903 Japanese general election: The Rikken Seiyūkai party remained the largest in the House of Representatives, winning 175 of the 376 seats, but lost its majority.
• July 7  - Momijigari, the oldest extant Japanese film, premiers. It runs until August 1.^[2]
• Unknown date  - Kagome was founded, as predecessor name was Aichi Tomato Food Processing in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture.

Births

• January 2 – Kane Tanaka, supercentenarian (oldest verified Japanese person and the second oldest verified person ever) (d. 2022)
• January 7 – Mori Mari, author (d. 1987)
• January 25 – Fumiko Kaneko, anarchist (d. 1926)
• February 3 – Yasutarō Yagi, screenwriter (d. 1987)
• February 5 – Koto Matsudaira, diplomat (d. 1994)
• February 18 – Tokihiko Okada, silent film actor (d. 1934)
• March 6 – Empress Kōjun, empress consort of Emperor Hirohito (d. 2000)
• March 30 – Chiezō Kataoka, actor (d. 1983)
• April 11 - Misuzu Kaneko, poet (d. 1930)
• May 19 - Shimoe Akiyama, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2019)
• June 8 – Yukie Chiri, Ainu transcriber and translator (d. 1922)
• June 22 – Jiro Horikoshi, aircraft designer and engineer (d. 1982)
• August 3 – Roppa Furukawa, film actor (d. 1961)
• September 7 – Kensaku Shimaki, writer (d. 1945)
• October 1 – Yoshiyuki Tsuruta, Olympic swimmer (d. 1986)
• October 13 – Takiji Kobayashi, writer (d. 1933)
• November 3 – Shizue Shiono, film actor (d. 1962)^[3]
• December 12 – Yasujirō Ozu, film director and screenwriter (d. 1963)
• December 31 – Fumiko Hayashi, writer (d. 1951)

Deaths

• February 18
  • Prince Komatsu Akihito, Field Marshal, Chief of the General Staff (b. 1846)
  • Onoe Kikugorō V, kabuki actor (b. 1844)
• April 28  - Saigō Tanomo, Shinto priest, martial artist and former Samurai (b. 1830)
• May 22  - Misao Fujimura, student and poet (b. 1886)
• June 29  - Rentarō Taki, pianist (b. 1879)
• August 27  - Kusumoto Ine, physician, first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan (b. 1827)
• September 13  - Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, kabuki actor (b. 1838)
• October 30  - Ozaki Kōyō, author (b. 1868)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Meiji emperor of Japan . Encyclopedia Britannica . 27 March 2019 . en.
2. Irie. Yoshiro. Saiko no Nihon eiga ni tsuite. Tōkyō Kokuritsu Kindai Bijutsukan Kenkyū Kiyō. 2009. 13. 67. 9 December 2014. National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. ja. 0914-7489. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130119181900/http://www.momat.go.jp/research/kiyo/13/pp65_91.pdf. 19 January 2013.
3. Book: Kinema Junpōsha . 日本映画俳優全集・女優編 . Complete Works of Japanese Film Actors and Actresses . Tōkyō . Kinema Junpōsha . 1980 . 424 . 22823615 . JA.