Hara Takashi (原 敬, 15 March 1856 – 4 November 1921) was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1918 until his assassination.

Hara was appointed prime minister following the Rice Riots of 1918 and positioned himself as a moderate, participating in the Paris Peace Conference, founding the League of Nations, and relaxing oppressive policies in Japanese Korea.

Hara Takashi was born on 15 March 1856 in Motomiya, a village near Morioka, Mutsu Province, into a samurai family in service of the Nanbu Domain.

Hara failed the entrance examination of the prestigious Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, and instead joined the Marin Seminary, a free parochial school established by the French.

Hara realized that a fundamental political issue in Japan was the tension between the elected government and the appointed bureaucracy, and his career was dedicated to weakening the power of the non-elected bureaucrats.

In 1918, Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake fell from office as a result of the Rice Riots of 1918, and Hara was appointed as his successor on 28 September.

As prime minister, Hara suffered in terms of popularity, because he refused to use his majority in the lower house to force through universal suffrage legislation.

Hara's cautious approach disappointed communists and socialists, who accused him of delaying universal suffrage as it would endanger his position in power.

In Korea, Japan used military force to suppress the Samil Rebellion, but later began more lenient policies aimed at reducing opposition to Japanese rule.

Hara also sought to encourage a limited amount of self-rule in Korea – provided that, ultimately, Koreans remained under Japanese imperial control.

In addition, there are some differences in the evaluation of Hara's policies before and after his inauguration, such as the repeated incidents of jail charges and his negative attitude toward the implementation of the universal suffrage law, which was the people's great desire.

On 4 November 1921, Hara was stabbed to death by Nakaoka Kon'ichi [ja], a right-wing nationalist railroad switchman, at Tokyo Station while catching a train to Kyoto for a party conference.