The Rikken-Dōshi Kai () was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

active in the

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 ...

in the early years of the 20th century. It was also known as simply the Dōshikai. Founded by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Katsura Tarō on February 7, 1913, the ''Rikken Dōshikai'' largely served to support his cabinet against criticism by Ozaki Yukio and his '' Rikken Seiyūkai'' party, which at the time held a majority of the seats in the

Lower House A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

, as well as by

Inukai Tsuyoshi Inukai Tsuyoshi (, 4 June 1855 – 15 May 1932) was a Japanese statesman who was Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1931 to his assassination in 1932. At the age of 76, Inukai was Japan's second oldest serving prime minister, ...

of the Rikken Kokuminto party. Katsura was able to convince 90 Diet members (including all 31 members of the Chūō Club and half of the

Rikken Kokumintō The Rikken Kokumintō () was a minor political party in the Empire of Japan. It was also known as simply the Kokumintō. History The ''Kokumintō'' was founded in March 1910, by a merger of the ''Kensei Hontō'' with a number of minor political ...

) to join his new party. The party survived Katsura's death in 1913, and under the leadership of Katō Takaaki placed five of its members in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu in 1914–1916. It became the majority party in the Diet after the 1915 General Election, with a 153 seats. After the dissolution of the Ōkuma government, the ''Dōshikai'' merged with '' Chūseikai'' and other small political parties to form the '' Kenseikai'' in October 1916.Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan

Election result

References

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External links

National Diet Library of Japan
Political parties in the Empire of Japan Political parties established in 1913 Defunct political parties in Japan 1913 establishments in Japan Political parties disestablished in 1916 1916 disestablishments in Japan {{Japan-party-stub