Ryōhei Uchida

[1] He was the son of Shinto Muso-ryu practitioner Uchida Ryōgorō,[2] and from an early age was interested in many forms of Japanese traditional martial arts, including kyūdō, kendo, judo and sumo.

As a youth, Uchida joined the Genyosha nationalist group, and soon became the leading disciple of its founder, Toyama Mitsuru.

Viewing Russia as the primary threat to Japan, he wrote and published a large volume of anti-Russian propaganda, visited Vladivostok to gather intelligence on Russian activities in Asia, and vigorously advocated Japanese expansion into the Amur River Basin as a buffer against Russian aggression.

He was arrested in 1925 on suspicion of planning the assassination of Japanese Prime Minister Katō Takaaki and the Emperor of Japan, but was acquitted the following year.

In 1931, he founded the Greater Japan Production Party (大日本生産党) and became its president, and in 1932, he was rumored to have been one of the masterminds behind the League of Blood Incident.