The October incident (十月事件, Jūgatsu Jiken), also known as the Imperial Colors incident (錦旗革命事件, Kinki Kakumei Jiken), was an abortive coup d'état attempt in the Empire of Japan on 21 October 1931, launched by the Sakurakai secret society within the Imperial Japanese Army, aided by civilian ultranationalist groups.
Having failed to replace the government with a totalitarian military dictatorship in the abortive coup d'état of the March Incident of March 1931, Lt. Col. Kingoro Hashimoto of the Sakurakai and his ultra-nationalist civilian supporters, including Shūmei Ōkawa, resolved to try again in October 1931.
Isamu Chō returned secretly to Japan (without orders) from North China to lead the plot to "prevent the government from squandering the fruits of our victory in Manchuria".
The punishments for this abortive coup were even milder than for the previous March Incident, as Gen. Minami publicly excused the plot as simply an excess of patriotic zeal.
However, the lightness of the punishments only encouraged more attempted military intervention in the government, culminating in the February 26 Incident of 1936.