Ozaki Yukio i Inukai Tsuyoshi – liderzy ruchu przeciwko rządowi Katsury Tarō

A bureaucratic government announcing liberalization of its policies may usually expect some public favor. The outcry of anger that followed the formation of the third Katsura Tarō administration in 1912, however, proves this not always to be the case. Ozaki Yukio and Inukai Tsuyoshi, two ‘gods of constitutionalism,’ led the popular movement that resulted in Katsura’s resignation not long after he had declared to renounce the cooperation with his clique, and create his own platform. Focused on the relations between Katsura’s new political party and both of the movement leaders, this essay demonstrates the main factors that propelled the clash between the cabinet and the movement, and explains in detail the difference in the stances of Ozaki and Inukai during their anti-government campaign. These are crucial to understand that Katsura’s ideas, no matter how liberal, were not acceptable for the public opinion, and that from the very beginning his cabinet was destined to fail.