Three Crows

A powerful faction in Japanese military politics leading to World War II, the Three Crows, Tetsuzan Nagata, Toshiro Obata and Yasuji Okamura, were influential officers. They first met in Germany in 1921, when all three were military attaches. They intended to modernize the Japanese military, purging it of samurai traditions and the Chosu Clan. The rival Satsuma Clan had gained power when Hirohito married a Satsuma princess.

Under the informal sponsorship of Prince Higashikuni, they strengthened Army Intelligence and began planning the conquest of Manchuria.

As a more junior officer, Hideki Tojo attended the first meeting. Tojo was among the "eleven reliable men" selected by the Crows, all non-Chosu, all members of the Military Academy classes of 1904 and 1905. Tojo, Kenji Doihara, and Seishiro Itagaki, were hanged as war criminals following the Tokyo trials. Daisaku Komoto would assassinate the Manchurian warlord, Chang Tso-Lin, in 1928. One took a minimal role in WWII, three died in China. Three, less reliable after all, were part of the February 26, 1936 Incident: Yoshio Kudo, Masakasu Matsumara and Shigeatsu Yamaoka.