Matsue incident
The incident was staged by about forty dissidents, who attacked facilities in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, at dawn on 24 August 1945, resulting in one fatality.
On that day, an armed group of dissidents who called themselves Sonno-Doshikai, gathered in Atagoyama, a small mountain in the central part of Tokyo.
[1] This group called for opposition to the surrender and expected that members of the Japanese armed forces would support them.
Okazaki was born in Shimane Prefecture and after graduation from a middle school he worked in a Japanese firm in Manchuria for two years.
[citation needed][10] On 16 August, the Matsue Shimbun (newspaper) reported that the broadcast of the emperor had been a call for a cease-fire.
The Emperor's message had been spoken in Classical Japanese (文語体), which was not well understood by the average person.
On 15 and 16 August, the Governor of Shimane Prefecture, Takeo Yamada, made several public announcements asking for unity.
Ogawa stated that the country should not be misled by groundless rumors; the broadcast of a cease-fire did not immediately mean peace.
But in outlying regions like San-in, such as Shimane, where air-raids had been on a small scale, continuing the war when the mainland was attacked appeared possible.
Since Okazaki was under the strict observation of the special police, he sent Hatano to Tokyo to provoke a dramatic incident that would bring the nation to their side.
They wrote their opinions in leaflets, such as "The country of kami knows no defeat", "Message to People of Shimane", "To the Imperial Army and Navy Members" on sheets of paper in India ink; however, the airplanes at the Miho air base had been destroyed on 22 August and could not scatter them as intended.
The plan: Okazaki ordered Hatano and others to go to the Matsue Gokoku Shrine, since he himself continued under police observation.
The men were clad in the khaki-colored national uniforms of that time, while the women wore a simple kimono or monpe.
Before the uprising, Okazaki addressed them and told them that their deaths would be like that of the samurai Kusunoki Masashige, who was an inspiration for the Meiji Restoration.
Hatano related the situation in Tokyo and Hasegawa gave them their assignments: It was decided that after every team attained their respective goals, they would go to the broadcasting station.
The governor and the chief prosecutor were not in their houses since they had rushed to the prefectural office when it started to burn.
The post office team succeeded in setting the dynamite but it failed to explode, although the fuse burnt.
A top Civil Secret Policeman[20] whom Okazaki knew urged negotiations for fear of a gun battle.
Okazaki proposed that all should bow in the direction of Tokyo and all of them present then shouted, Tennō Heika Banzai (Hail to the Emperor).
The police chief withdrew his offer made during the previous negotiation since the prosecutor now told him that it was impossible to release the members.
[21] All members were investigated at the police station on suspicion of wartime rioting, invasion without permission, postal and gas service obstruction, and violation of rules on explosives.
They ignored the National Volunteer Army members, who had sounded a siren and publicly demonstrated with bamboo spears.
[29] Another document recorded that people who had endured the government policy and Mabiki sokai (forced evacuation of houses), shouted, "This is the Heaven's punishment against the evacuation of my house, I want to see the face of those who performed the bad policy in the name of the emperor."
Accused were 15 members of the Japanese Empire Voluntary Army; the presiding judge was Tadatoshi Mitsuse.
The summary of his statement on 7 and 25 November is: It is an act of serving the enemy that Hideki Tojo became premier without any prospect of victory and in the end, lost office.
Our attempt failed, but I am satisfied if this led the Japanese people to an awakening and the attainment of the Showa Restoration.
[38] However, for Okazaki, Hatano and Hasegawa, it was not beneficial to them as far as their life was concerned,[39] since they failed in their uprising and were not allowed imprisonment and had to plunge into the postwar society of Japan.
He started to manage Matsue-Josai High School in 1960, now Rissho University Shonan Kotogakko (立正大学淞南高等学校) and became the chairman of its board of directors.
[43] At that time, he was the president of Asahi Mokuzai Company and vice-president of the Shimane Prefecture rifle association.
Masanaka Naito commented that since Okazaki was acting in connection with the officers who favored resistance, the army police, Matsue regiment, Miho air base, the uprising might lead to a large riot.
