Araki served as commander of the IJA 6th Division from 1929 through 1931, when he was appointed Deputy Inspector General of Military Training, one of the most prestigious posts within the army.

[citation needed] Prince Saionji, one of the emperor's closest and strongest advisors, attempted to stop the military takeover of the government.

In a September 23 news conference, Araki first mentioned the philosophy of Kodoha ("The Imperial Way"), which linked the Emperor, the people, land, and morality as one indivisible entity, and he emphasized State Shinto.

Araki was also theoretician of the even more radical Sakurakai (Cherry Blossom Society), which actively attempted to bring about a Showa Reformation by coups d'état.

As a colonel, Araki was the principal proponent of the Kodoha political faction (Imperial Benevolent Rule or Action Group) within the Japanese Army, together with Jinzaburo Mazaki, Heisuke Yanagawa, and Hideyoshi Obata.

The groups were later to merge into the Imperial Way Faction (Kodoha) and incorporated a mixture of right-wing and national socialist ideas, particularly those of Kita Ikki and the pro-fascist philosophies of Nakano Seigo of which Araki was a leading member.

In January 1939, Araki became involved in the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement and revitalized it by having it sponsor public rallies, radio programs, printed propaganda, and discussion seminars at tonarigumi neighborhood associations.

Within the Army, Araki was a supporter of the Northern Expansion Doctrine (Hokushin-ron), which proposed an attack on the Soviet Far East and Siberia.

Araki was a supporter of the unauthorized studies of China and the preparation of war scenarios by radical junior officer cliques within the Army.

Through his connections with the Sakurakai, Araki intensified efforts to take the government away from civilian control, isolate the Emperor (Shōwa Reformation), unite the many secret societies, and appoint his close confidant Shigeru Honjō as commander of the Kwantung Army.

The plot to seize Manchuria proceeded as planned, and when presented by the fait accompli, all that Prime Minister Reijirō Wakatsuki could do was weakly protest and resign with his cabinet.

He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy to wage aggressive war but was released from Sugamo Prison in 1955 for health reasons.