The was a

mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...

committed as part of the larger

Kantō Massacre The was a mass murder in the Kantō region of Japan committed in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. With the explicit and implicit approval of parts of the Japanese government, the Japanese military, police, and vigilantes mu ...

in (now in Noda),

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

on September 6, 1923. Nine ethnic Japanese people, including women and children, were killed on suspicion that they were ethnic Koreans.

Background

Immediately after the destructive Great Kantō Earthquake, rumors emerged that ethnic Koreans were planning to commit crimes across Japan. These rumors were, in part, supported by a cable sent under the name of Fumio Gotō, then director general of the Police Affairs Bureau of the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

. The cable stated, "Taking advantage of the earthquake, Koreans are setting fires in various places, and...in Tokyo there are those who possess bombs, pour oil, and set fires". It urged regional directors to "strictly control the behavior" of Koreans. Lynch mobs soon formed, armed with swords and weapons. People were questioned at random as to whether or not they were Korean. Koreans who were positively identified were often killed, although victims also included Chinese and misidentified Japanese.

Incident

A group of 15 traveling merchants was stopped by a lynch mob. Nine of them were killed after being mistakenly identified as Korean; among the dead were children and a pregnant woman, who were from the severely disadvantaged former ''

burakumin The are a social grouping of Japanese people descended from members of the feudal class associated with , mainly those with occupations related to death such as executioners, gravediggers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and tanners. Bura ...

'' caste.

Legacy

On September 1, 2023, a film about the events in Fukuda entitled '' September 1923'' was released on the 100th anniversary of the Kantō Massacre.

References

{{Reflist Kantō Massacre Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan 20th-century mass murder in Japan Mass murder in 1923 Racially motivated violence in Japan Anti-Korean violence Noda, Chiba History of Chiba Prefecture Child murder in Japan