1915 in Japan explained

Events in the year 1915 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 4 (大正4年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor

Taishō^[1]

• Prime Minister

Ōkuma Shigenobu

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture

Matsui Shigeru

• • • • • Akita Prefecture: Saburo Sakamoto Aomori Prefecture: Matsujiro Obama Ehime Prefecture: Renarto Fukamachi Fukui Prefecture: Sato Kozaburo Fukushima Prefecture: Ota Masahiro (until 1 April); Sukeji Horiguchi (starting 1 April)
    • Gifu Prefecture: Shimada Gotaro Gunma Prefecture: Miyake Gennosuke Hiroshima Prefecture

• Hyogo Prefecture: Seino Chotarno (starting month unknown)
• Ibaraki Prefecture

• Ishikawa Prefecture

• Iwate Prefecture: Rinpei Otsu
• Kagawa Prefecture: Takeji Kawamura (until 9 January); Raizo Wakabayashi (starting 9 January)
• Kanagawa Prefecture

Chūichi Ariyoshi (starting month unknown)

• • Kochi Prefecture: Toki Kahei Kumamoto Prefecture

• Kyoto Prefecture

• Mie Prefecture: Eitaro Mabuchi
• Miyagi Prefecture

Magoichi Tahara (until 12 August); Tsunenosuke Hamada (starting 12 August)

• Miyazaki Prefecture: Tadakazu Ariyoshi (until 12 August); Shutaro Horiuchi (starting 12 August)
• Nagano Prefecture

Yuichiro Chikaraishi (until 12 August); Tenta Akaboshi (starting 12 August)

• Niigata Prefecture

• Okinawa Prefecture

Kyūgorō Ōmi

• Osaka Prefecture

• Saga Prefecture

Raizo Wakabayashi (until 8 January); Ishibashi Kazu (starting 8 January)

• Saitama Prefecture

• • • Shiname Prefecture: Ichiro Oriharami Tochigi Prefecture: Shin Kitagawa Tokyo

Kubota Kiyochika (until 2 July); Yuichi Ionue (until 2 July)

• Toyama Prefecture: Tsunenosuke Hamada (until 12 August); Ki Masesaku (starting 12 August)
• Yamagata Prefecture: Iwataro Odakiri

Events

• January 18  - Twenty-One Demands from Japan to China are made.
• March unknown date  - A tool brand, Makita founded, as predecessor name was Makita Electronics Manufacturing.
• March 25  - 1915 Japanese general election: The Rikken Dōshikai party emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 153 of the 381 seats. The 381 members of the House of Representatives were elected in 51 multi-member constituencies based on prefectures and cities. Voting was restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 10 yen a year in direct taxation.^[2]
• May 18  - Toshiko, Princess Yasu, ninth daughter of Emperor Meiji, marries Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni
• September 1  - Yokogawa Electric was founded.
• November 10  - Enthronement of Taishō as the Emperor of Japan in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Originally scheduled to be held in 1914 (Taisho 3, 大正3年), it was postponed for one year in April of the same year due to the death of Empress Shōken.
• November Unknown date  - Azuma Kogyo, as predecessor of Teijin, founded in Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture.
• December 9 - 14  - Sankebetsu brown bear incident: was the worst bear attack in Japanese history,^[3] killing seven settlers^[4] in Rokusensawa, Sankebetsu, Tomamae, Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan.
• Ōura scandal
• Tapani incident
• Ongoing  - Japan during World War I

Births

• January 4  - Michiko Kuwano, actress (d. 1946)
• January 20  - Masanori Yusa, freestyle swimmer (d. 1975)
• February 15  - Haruo Umezaki, writer (d. 1965)
• February 20  - Takiko Mizunoe, actress, film producer, and radio and TV presenter (d. 2009)
• February 28  - Nobuo Kojima, writer and author (d. 2006)
• May 15  - Shozo Makino, swimmer (d. 1987)
• October 17  - Taiji Tonoyama, actor (d. 1989)
• November 20  - Kon Ichikawa, film director (d. 2008)
• December 2  - Takahito, Prince Mikasa, youngest son of Emperor Taishō (d. 2016)^[5]
• December 25  - Yumeko Aizome, actress

Deaths

• January 12  - Arisaka Nariakira, Lieutenant general and inventor of the Arisaka rifle (b. 1852)
• August 5  - Sakuma Samata, politician and Governor of Taiwan (b. 1844)
• September 1  - Inoue Kaoru, politician (Genrō) (b. 1836)
• September 4  - Goseda Yoshimatsu, artist (b. 1855)
• September 26  - Tsuruko Haraguchi, psychologist and the first Japanese woman to receive a Doctor of Philosophy (b. 1886)
• September 28  - Saitō Hajime, samurai of the late Edo period, captain of the third unit of the Shinsengumi (b. 1844)
• November 28  - Kobayashi Kiyochika, ukiyo-e artist (b. 1847)

See also

• List of Japanese films of the 1910s
• Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I

Notes and References

1. Web site: Taishō emperor of Japan . Encyclopedia Britannica . 27 March 2019 . en.
2. Mackie & Rose, p276
3. Web site: Fu Watto Tomamae. 2008-06-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20110723082501/http://www.hkd.mlit.go.jp/zigyoka/z_doro/station/eng/newstation/tomamae/index.html. 2011-07-23. dead.
4. Web site: Higuma, King of the Forest. Carey Paterson. Xene. December 2001. 2008-06-07.
5. Web site: Yoshida . Reiji . Prince Mikasa, a China war veteran who spanned three reigns, dies at 100 . The Japan Times . 2 January 2021 . 27 October 2016.