Toranomon Incident (1923)

Thu Dec 27, 1923

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Image: Daisuke Namba, the attempted assassin of Crown Prince Regent Hirohito, displaying facial injuries sustained under police custody

The Toranomon Incident (虎ノ門事件) was an assassination attempt on the Prince Regent Hirohito of Japan by communist dissident Daisuke Nanba that took place at the Toranomon intersection in downtown Tokyo, Japan on this day in 1923. Nanba was sentenced to death and executed on November 15th, 1924.

Nanba was motivated both by anti-capitalist ideology and a desire to avenge the execution of Shūsui Kōtoku, who was executed for his alleged role in the High Treason Incident of 1910. Hirohito was on his way to the opening of the 48th Session of the Imperial Diet when Namba fired a small pistol into his carriage, shattering a window and injuring a chamberlain, but leaving Hirohito unharmed.

After being arrested, Nanba explained that he was a communist and was seeking to avenge the death of Kōtoku. Despite court records affirming his sound state of mind, Namba was presented as insane to the public.