Okikatsu Arao
Imperial Japanese Army official
Colonel Okikatsu Arao (荒尾 興功, Arao Okikatsu; March 18, 1902 – August 22, 1974) was one of the original plotters in a scheme to prevent Emperor Hirohito's declaration of surrender at the end of World War II. He was the chief of the War Affairs section of the Military Affairs Bureau of the Imperial Japanese Army.
Conspiracy
Given his relatively high station, Arao acted as the representative of the plotters to some extent, hoping to enlist the aid of Minister of War Korechika Anami. Meeting with Anami on the night of August 13 (two days before the surrender), Arao was informed that the Minister stood behind the Emperor's decisions, and that in any case, Japan could not afford to continue fighting. Unthinkable as it was, surrender was the only option.
As one of his chief contributions to the coup, Arao drafted an 'Instruction to the Troops' which was to be broadcast to all of Japan's soldiers, encouraging them to keep fighting. This was originally supported and approved by General Anami; however, while he spoke with the War Minister, several of the more rash members of the conspiracy broadcast an earlier, more inflammatory, draft.
The following morning, Arao and the other conspirators met to plot the actual details of their plan to take over the Imperial Palace, placing the Emperor under house arrest, and preventing the surrender speech from being delivered. Arao drafted the orders that were to be given to those elements of the Imperial Guards Division and other groups involved in the coup. The conspirators then met with Anami once more; the Minister, having wavered back and forth several times in his support of their plan, once again told them the coup would have to be abandoned. He said that Army Chief of Staff Yoshijirō Umezu felt that employment of armed forces within the Palace grounds would be sacrilege.
“Okikatsu Arao” enters the record as imperial Japanese Army official. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Okikatsu, Arao and Imperial can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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