Ōura scandal

After the entry of Japan into World War I, the administration of Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu had to report to the lower house of the Diet that expenditures had greatly exceeded projections, and furthermore had to put forth a request by the Imperial Japanese Army for an increase in funding to support an additional 86,000 men – a request which had previously led to the collapse of the Saionji administration.

In the campaigning during the Japanese election of 1915, Ōkuma avoided any mention of increased funding for the military, but stressed his foreign policy achievements in China (such as the Twenty-One Demands) and elsewhere, as opposed to the opposition Rikken Seiyūkai party, tainted by its recent involvement in the Imperial Navy’s Siemens scandal.

Although Ōkuma did not obtain an absolute majority, he was able to pass his bills on military spending and China policy without difficulty.

However, a couple of months after the election, charges began to surface that Ōura Kanetake, the Home Minister, had given funds from the Rikken Dōshikai party to Hayashida Kametarō, the Chief Secretary of the lower house, to distribute to undecided members in order influence the outcome of Ōkuma’s military spending bill.

Ōkuma's cabinet lost popular support, and its members held mass resignation in October 1915.