Masahiko Amakasu

Masahiko Amakasu 甘粕 正彦
Masahiko Amakasu in Manchukuo
Born	(1891-01-26)January 26, 1891 Miyagi Prefecture, Japan
Died	August 20, 1945(1945-08-20) (aged 54) Hsinking, Manchukuo
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Military officer, head of Manchukuo Film Association

Masahiko Amakasu (甘粕 正彦, Amakasu Masahiko^?, January 26, 1891 – August 20, 1945) was an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army imprisoned for his involvement in the Amakasu Incident, the extrajudicial execution of anarchists after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, who later became head of the Manchukuo Film Association.

Amakasu was born in Miyagi Prefecture as the eldest son of an ex-samurai of the Yonezawa Domain. He was educated in military boarding schools in Mie Prefecture and Nagoya, and entered the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1912. After graduation, he served in the infantry and then the military police in various postings in Japan and in Korea.

As a lieutenant in charge of a detachment of military police during the chaos immediately following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake on September 16, 1923, his detachment arrested the well-known anarchists Sakae Ōsugi and Noe Itō, along with Sakae's six-year-old nephew. In what came to be known as the Amakasu Incident, the suspects were beaten to death and their bodies thrown into a well. The killing of such high-profile anarchists, along with a young child, sparked surprise and outrage throughout Japan. Amakasu was court martialed and sentenced to serve 10 years in Chiba Prison.