High Treason Incident

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The High Treason Incident (Taigyaku Jiken) relates to a plot in 1910 to assassinate the Japanese Emperor by Japanese socialists-anarchists. Twenty-four of the twenty-six defendants were sentenced to death on January 18 1911. Of these, half had their sentence commuted to life imprisonment on the following day. Of the remaining twelve, eleven were executed on January 24, 1911. These included Kotoku Shusui, the first Japanese anarchist, and Oishi Seinosuke, a doctor. The last of the condemned defendants, the only woman, Kanno Suga, was executed the next day. While many of the defendants were probably aware to some degree of the plot, they did not intend to personally participate and were completely surprised by the process which led to the verdicts.

The High Treason Incident is also indirectly related to The Red Flag Incident, which occurred in 1908. During the High Treason investigation, anarchists already incarcerated were questioned about possible involvement, including Osugi Sakae, Sakai Toshihiko, and Yamakawa Hitoshi. Kanno Suga, who was found not guilty during the Red Flag trials, was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death in the High Treason trials.

Ōsugi later wrote that he'd encountered the defendants in prison, but was too afraid to speak to them too loudly. Kōtoku was unable to hear him, as he had poor hearing. Ōsugi also encountered their executioner, who later retired after their execution.

The Incident ushered in a period of heightened repression and steady decline for socialism in general, and anarchism in particular, throughout the Taisho period (1912-1926).

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