Otoya Yamaguchi

was a Japanese radical anti-communist and ultranationalist youth who assassinated Inejirō Asanuma, chairman of the Japan Socialist Party, on 12 October 1960.

Yamaguchi rushed the stage and stabbed Asanuma with a wakizashi-like short sword while Asanuma was participating in a televised election debate at Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo. Yamaguchi, who was 17 years of age at the time, had been a member of Bin Akao's far-right Greater Japan Patriotic Party, but had resigned earlier that year, just prior to the assassination. After being arrested and interrogated, Yamaguchi committed suicide while in a detention facility.

Yamaguchi became a hero and a martyr to Japanese far-right groups, who as of 2022, have continued to hold commemorations to this day. A photograph of the assassination taken by Japanese photojournalist Yasushi Nagao won World Press Photo of the Year for 1960 and the 1961 Pulitzer Prize.

Early life

Yamaguchi was born on 22 February 1943 in Yanaka, Taitō, Tokyo. He was the second son of Shinpei Yamaguchi, who by 1960 would become a high-ranking officer in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, and was the maternal grandson of the famous writer Namiroku Murakami, well known for his violent novels glorifying the chivalric code of Japanese organized crime syndicates known as the yakuza.

Yamaguchi began reading newspapers starting in his early childhood. Angered by what he read, he became interested in nationalist movements and vehemently critical of politicians. Due to his father's job changes and transfers, Yamaguchi had to move frequently during his childhood, transferring between two elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools. As a result, he grew up with few close friends. He lived in Sapporo, Hokkaido for much of his childhood because of his father's work. In 1958, he was accepted into Tamagawa High School in Tokyo, however his father transferred him to Sapporo Kōsei, a local Catholic school in Sapporo. Yamaguchi then decided to move to Tokyo to live with his brother, and transferred back to Tamagawa High School.

Yamaguchi exhibited intense xenophobia from childhood, harboring deep revulsion toward foreigners, particularly Koreans and Chinese whom he perceived as "domineering" over Japan, fueling his early nationalist resentments. He also developed profound hatred for left-wing groups, including communists, socialists, and labor unions (such as Nikkyoso), associating them with post-war incidents like the Mitaka, Shimoyama, Shiratori, and Matsukawa cases, which he viewed as existential threats to Japan's national integrity. He was portrayed as a lonely youth who ignored parental and school advice, ultimately dropping out of high school to dedicate himself fully to extremist activities.

Yamaguchi's involvement with the Greater Japan Patriotic Party involved aggressive anti-communist actions, including disrupting left-wing events with propaganda, which led to repeated arrests (at least 10–17 documented incidents in 1959–1960) for offenses such as assault (throwing glue at opponents, striking individuals), obstruction of public duties, property damage, violence, and power abuse. In his testimony to the police after the assassination of Asanuma, Yamaguchi stated that Akao was always talking about taking out left-wing leaders, but was only interested in protests and media coverage, and that Akao would stop him if he ever tried to act on his words. Later in the interview, he stated that he had resigned from Akao's party in order to "lay [his] hands on a weapon" and be free to take more "decisive action". Asanuma himself supported the founder of this movement, Masaharu Taniguchi. Taniguchi affirmed that Seichō no Ie was neither opposed to the Socialist Party nor aligned with the Liberal Democratic Party.

On 17 June 1960, when a right-wing youth attacked Jōtarō Kawakami, a Christian socialist and an adviser to the Japan Socialist Party, he commented:

On 1 July, together with his comrades, he took part in the establishment of the Tokyo Branch of the All-Asia Anti-Communist League.

On 4 October, while searching for an accordion at his home, he accidentally came across a wakizashi (a traditional Japanese short sword). It had no handguard (tsuba) and was kept in a plain white wooden scabbard. Upon finding it, he said: "I decided that I would use this wakizashi to kill."

After paying his respects at Meiji Jingū, he immediately telephoned Takeshi Kobayashi, chairman of the Japan Teachers' Union (Nikkyōso), and Sanzō Nosaka, chairman of the Japanese Communist Party. He planned to request meetings by telling them, "I'm a university student committee member, and there's something I'd like you to teach me." However, Kobayashi had moved to a new residence, and Nosaka was away on a trip, so he was unable to put his plan into action against either of them, and the attempt failed.

Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma

Yamaguchi spoke of Akao respectfully, referring to him using the honorific , however, also stating that Akao was more interested in "media attention" and "agitation", as opposed to actively putting his words and ideals to practice. Yamaguchi told police that Akao would have prevented him from carrying out the assassination had he known of his intentions, as well as consistently maintaining that he had acted alone and without any direction from others, stating the inaction on Akao's part as a component of his motivation and reasoning for resigning from the party and committing the offense.

Master Akao was always saying "we must take out the leaders of the left wing", but it was clear that he was more interested in attracting media attention with mild agitation, and that he would stop me if I ever tried to put his words into action....Therefore I decided to leave the party, lay my hands on a weapon, and take decisive action. He was found hanging at 8:31 p.m. and was apparently still alive at the time, but was pronounced dead three hours later after unsuccessful attempts to revive him by artificial respiration.

On 3 November, the day after Yamaguchi's suicide, Kyōko Asanuma, widow of Inejirō Asanuma, held a press conference to address the news. She stated that she had learned of Yamaguchi's death from the morning newspapers and expressed pity for the young man rather than hatred, while directing strong condemnation toward the influences that had radicalized him:I first learned of Yamaguchi’s suicide this morning through the newspaper. Rather than feeling hatred toward the boy, I feel more pity for him. My anger is burning up from the bottom of my heart once again toward the unseen forces that instilled such dangerous ideas into a 17-year-old boy and drove him to commit assassination.Her response was widely regarded as an embodiment of the principle of "hating the sin but not the sinner".

Right-wing groups celebrated Yamaguchi as a martyr; they gave a burial coat, kimono, and belt to his parents and performed a memorial service for him.

Yamaguchi's mother continued to visit Asanuma's grave on the anniversary of the latter's death.

Legacy

A photograph taken by Yasushi Nagao immediately after Yamaguchi withdrew his sword from Asanuma won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize, and the 1960 World Press Photo award.

On 15 December 1960, just weeks after Yamaguchi's suicide, a nationwide coalition of Japanese right-wing groups held a "National Memorial Service for Our Martyred Brother Yamaguchi Otoya" in the same Hibya Public Hall in Tokyo where Yamaguchi had assassinated Asanuma.

Yamaguchi's actions and the massive publicity they received inspired a rash of copycat crimes, as a number of political figures became targets of assassination plots and attempts over the next few years.

Japanese author Kenzaburō Ōe based his 1961 novellas Seventeen and Death of a Political Youth on Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi's assassination and suicide have been critiqued in Japanese sources as heinous terrorism that contributed to perceptions of increasing "brutalization" in post-war juvenile delinquency. His extremism made "patriotism" appear frightening to the public, associating right-wing ideology with violence and evoking fears similar to those of organized crime.

The case inspired ongoing controversy and threats, such as those against author Kenzaburō Ōe for fictional works inspired by the event, perpetuating cycles of intimidation and societal division.