of participating in the direction of government, and in 1921 he had to relinquish even his ceremonial functions to his son, who became the Prince Regent. The death of the Meiji Emperor meant the disappearance of one of the greatest figures in the oligarchy and the elimination of the throne from Japanese politics, except as a symbol, and a tool for those in control of the government.
Ito, framer of the Constitution and four times Premier, had been assassinated by a Korean in 1909. Yamagata, father of the army and himself twice Premier, died in 1922. Two years later only one of the great “elder statesmen” of the Meiji period remained, Prince Saionji, the old court noble and perhaps the least typical member of the whole group.
Meanwhile, a new generation was coming into power. A majority of the generals, admirals, bureaucrats, business men, and intellectuals of the time had been born or at least had grown up since the “Restoration.” These men, for the most part, were the sons of former samurai who had become army officers, government officials, or business men, but they, themselves, had never been samurai. No one group had the prestige or power of the old oligarchy, and on the whole they lacked the common background and singleness of purpose of the Meiji leaders.
Another significant factor was the First World War. It gave a tremendous impetus to commercial and industrial expansion, which helped make the business classes, and particularly the great commercial and industrial interests, increasingly important in Japanese life and politics. They became the heroes of a prosperous new