The Amakasu Incident occurred on September 16, 1923, in the chaos immediately following the Great Kantō earthquake, in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Fearing that anarchists would take advantage of the disaster to overthrow the government, a squad of military police

Military police

Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...

 led by Lieutenant Masahiko Amakasu arrested Sakae Osugi, Noe Ito

Noe Ito

was a Japanese anarchist, social critic, author and feminist.-Biography:Itō graduated from Ueno Girls' High School in Ueno, Tokyo, and joined the Bluestocking Society , producer of the feminist arts and culture magazine Seitō in 1912...

, and Sakae's six year old nephew. They were later beaten to death and their bodies thrown into a well.

The killing of such high profile anarchists, along with a young child, became known as the Amakasu Incident, and sparked surprise and anger throughout Japan.

The 1969 film Eros Plus Massacre

Eros Plus Massacre

is a Japanese black-and-white film released in 1969. It was directed by Yoshishige Yoshida, who wrote it in cooperation with Masahiro Yamada.-Plot:The film is a biography of anarchist Sakae Ōsugi, who was assassinated by the Japanese military in 1923...

depicts the incident.

External links

• 甘粕（あまかす）事件 (ja.)
• 日本ペンクラブ 電子文藝館 招待席・主権在民史料 「関東大震災」 (今井 清一) (ja.)
• 関東大震災と新聞 (池見哲司) (ja.)