1914 in Japan

← 1913 1912 1911 1914 in Japan → 1915 1916 1917
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	Other events of 1914 History of Japan Timeline Years

Events in the year 1914 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 3 (大正3年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Taishō^[1]
• Prime Minister:
  • Yamamoto Gonnohyōe
  • Ōkuma Shigenobu

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Matsui Shigeru
• Akita Prefecture: Toyosuke Haneda (until 28 May); Saburo Sakamoto (starting 28 May)
• Aomori Prefecture: Takeo Tanaka (until 28 April); Matsujiro Obama (starting 28 April)
• Ehime Prefecture: Renarto Fukamachi
• Fukui Prefecture: Teru Kagawa (until 9 June); Sato Kozaburo (starting 9 June)
• Fukushima Prefecture: Ota Masahiro
• Gifu Prefecture: Shimada Gotaro
• Gunma Prefecture: Muneyoshi Oshiba (until 28 April); Miyake Gennosuke (starting 28 April)
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Terada Yushi
• Hyogo Prefecture: Seino Chotarno
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Keisuke Sakanaka
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Kiichirō Kumagai (until month unknown)
• Iwate Prefecture: Sadajiro Tsutsumi (until 9 January); Rinpei Otsu (starting 9 January)
• Kagawa Prefecture: Kogoro Kanokogi (until 9 June); Takeji Kawamura (starting 9 June)
• Kochi Prefecture: Kinjiro Nagai (until 9 June); Toki Kahei (starting 9 June)
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Akahoshi Futoshi (until 28 April); Kawakami Shinhare (starting 28 April)
• Kyoto Prefecture: Shoichi Omori
• Mie Prefecture: Magoichi Tahara (until 28 April); Eitaro Mabuchi (starting 28 April)
• Miyagi Prefecture: Mori Masataka (until 28 April); Magoichi Tahara (starting 28 April)
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Tadakazu Ariyoshi
• Nagano Prefecture: Ichiro Yoda (until 28 April); Yuichiro Chikaraishi (starting 28 April)
• Niigata Prefecture: Ando Kensuke (until 28 April); Keisuke Sakanaka (starting 28 April)
• Okinawa Prefecture: Takuya Takahashi (until 9 June); Kyūgorō Ōmi (starting 9 June)
• Osaka Prefecture: Marques Okubo Toshi Takeshi
• Saga Prefecture: Fuwa (until 9 June); Raizo Wakabayashi (starting 9 June)
• Saitama Prefecture: Soeda Keiichiro (until 9 June); Akira Sakaya (starting 9 June)
• Shiname Prefecture: Takaoka Naokichi (until 28 April); Ichiro Oriharami (starting 28 April);
• Tochigi Prefecture: Okada Bunji (until 5 June); Shin Kitagawa (starting 5 June)
• Tokyo: Munakata Tadash (until 21 April); Kubota Kiyochika (starting 21 April)
• Toyama Prefecture: Tsunenosuke Hamada
• Yamagata Prefecture: Iwataro Odakiri

Events

• January – Siemens scandal breaks out.
• February 10–14 large-scale demonstrations erupted in Tokyo in response to the Siemens scandal.
• March 24 – Both houses of the Imperial Diet refused to pass the 1914 Navy budget
• April 16 – Yamamoto Gonnohyōe resigns as Prime Minister
• August 7 – The United Kingdom (Japan's ally since 1902) officially asked Japan for assistance in destroying the raiders from the Imperial German Navy in and around Chinese waters.
• August 23 – Japan declares war on Germany.^[2]
• August 25 – Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary, after Vienna refused to withdraw the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth from Qingdao.
• September 2 – Japanese forces landed on China's Shandong province and surrounded the German settlement at Qingdao
• September 6 – A seaplane launched by the seaplane-carrier Wakamiya. unsuccessfully attacked the Austro-Hungarian cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth and the German gunboat Jaguar with bombs^[3]
• October – The Imperial Japanese Navy seized several of Germany's island colonies in the Pacific – the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands - with virtually no resistance. The Japanese Navy conducted the world's first naval-launched air raids against German-held land targets in Shandong province and ships in Qiaozhou Bay from Wakamiya.
• October 17–November 7 – Naval operations around Qingdao, China.
• October 31–November 7 – Siege of Tsingtao (Qingdao) concluded with the surrender of German colonial forces.
• December 20 – Tokyo Station opened with four platforms; two serving electric trains and two serving non-electric trains.

Births

• January 12 – Mieko Kamiya, psychiatrist (d. 1979)
• April 16 – Hiro Saga, noblewoman (d. 1987)
• May 20 – Hideko Maehata, breaststroke swimmer and first Japanese woman to win an Olympic gold medal. (d. 1995)^[4][5]
• May 30 – Akinoumi Setsuo, sumo wrestler (d. 1979)
• June 12 – Go Seigen, Go player (d. 2014)
• July 30 – Michizō Tachihara, poet and architect (d. 1939)
• August 2 – Sueo Ōe, athlete (d. 1941)
• August 19 – Fumio Hayasaka, composer (d. 1955)^[6]
• August 25 – Shizuko Kasagi, singer (d. 1985)
• September 1 – Tsuneko Sasamoto, photojournalist (d. 2022)
• October 1 – Hamao Umezawa, microbiologist (d. 1986)
• October 25 – Yukie Arata, freestyle swimmer (d. unknown)
• November 3 – Saburo Okita, foreign minister (d. 1993)

Deaths

• January 16 – Itō Sukeyuki, admiral (b. 1843)
• February 16 – Aoki Shūzō politician and diplomat (b. 1844)
• April 9 – Empress Shōken, consort of Emperor Meiji (b. 1849)
• November 16 – Shunrō Oshikawa, author and journalist (b. 1876)

See also

• List of Japanese films of the 1910s
• Japan during World War I
• Asian and Pacific theater of World War I

References

1. "Taishō | emperor of Japan". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
2. Tucker, Spencer; Roberts, Priscilla Mary (2006). World War I: A Student Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 974. ISBN 978-1-85109-879-8.
3. Donko, Wilhelm M. (2013), Österreichs Kriegsmarine in Fernost: Alle Fahrten von Schiffen der k.(u.)k. Kriegsmarine nach Ostasien, Australien und Ozeanien von 1820 bis 1914, Berlin: epubli, pp. 4, 156–162, 427
4. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hideko Maehata". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2015-06-11.
5. "HIDEKO MAEHATA (JPN) 1979 Honor Swimmer". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2021-06-28. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
6. "Fumio Hayasaka". BFI. Archived from the original on July 20, 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2020.