Imperial Way faction

Also known as the kodoha, the Imperial Way faction was one of two competing Japanese nationalist groups in the 1930s, headed by Sadao Araki. It emphasized spirituality and the identity of the national polity (kokutai, Japanese spirit (Yamato dashi) and Emperor's army (kogun) over economic and technological development. Its symbolism was inspirational to young officers.

While the Control faction (todoha) shared goals of expansion with it, the more senior staff in it, headed by Tensuzan Nagata and Hideki Tojo, opposed its disdain for modern weaponry.

Conflict between the two factions flared until junior officers associated Imperial Way, angry that the sympathetic General Jinzaburo Mazaki as Inspector General of Military Education had been replaced, launched a coup attempt in the February 26 incident in 1936. Emperor Hirohito, in spite of the Imperial Way's idealization of the Emperor, strongly disapproved and ordered counteraction. The leading officers, as well as two civilian theorists, Ikki Kita and Mitsugi Nishida, were executed.