Nagata Tetsuzan in 1933

Nagata Tetsuzan is known as one of the leading figures of the Imperial Army after Manchurian incident. However, it can be said that the full- scale research on him has not been done yet. The author has interpreted so far Nagata's visions and policies during 1920s and Manchurian incident. This paper focuses on the period from April 1932 to August 1933 while he was chief of the intelligence divisions of the general staff to explore what Nagata was thinking particularly in 1933. Those are the times when a committee was organized among chief officials in the war ministry, which brought about contentions between two factions of army officers; the Imperial Way group (Kohdoh-ha) and the Control Faction (Tohsei-ha). And furthermore, during that time, Nagata and his group were clearly coming out with their political stance towards the movement of national reconstruction by younger military officers. This period historically has a significant meaning.