1903 in Japan

Events in the year 1903 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 36 (明治36年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Emperor Meiji

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Masaaki Nomura
• Akita Prefecture: Shiba Sankarasu then Ichiro Tsubaki
• Aomori Prefecture: Ichiji Yamanouchi then Katsutaro Inuzuka then Shotaro Nishizawa
• Ehime Prefecture: Tai Neijro
• Fukui Prefecture: Suke Sakamoto
• Fukushima Prefecture: Arita Yoshisuke
• Gifu Prefecture: Kawaji Toshikyo
• Gunma Prefecture: Yoshimi Teru
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Asada Tokunori then Tokuhisa Tsunenori
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Chuzo Kono then Teru Terahara
• Iwate Prefecture: Ganri Hojo
• Kagawa Prefecture: Motohiro Onoda
• Kochi Prefecture: Kinyuu Watanabe then Munakata Tadashi
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Egi Kazuyuki
• Kyoto Prefecture: Baron Shoichi Omori
• Mie Prefecture: Kamon Furusha
• Miyagi Prefecture: Terumi Tanabe
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Toda Tsunetaro
• Nagano Prefecture: Seki Kiyohide
• Niigata Prefecture: Hiroshi Abe
• Oita Prefecture: Marques Okubo Toshi Takeshi
• Okinawa Prefecture: Shigeru Narahara
• Saga Prefecture: Fai Kagawa
• Saitama Prefecture: Marquis Okubo Toshi Takeshi
• Shiga Prefecture: Sada Suzuki
• Shiname Prefecture: Ryogen Kaneo then Matsunaga Takeyoshi
• Tochigi Prefecture: Sugai Makoto
• Tokushima Prefecture: Saburo Iwao
• Tokyo: Baron Sangay Takatomi
• Toyama Prefecture: Rika Ryusuke
• Yamagata Prefecture: Tanaka Takamichi
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Takeda Chiyosaburo

Events

• March 1 – 1903 Japanese general election: The Rikken SeiyÅ«kai party remained the largest in the House of Representatives, winning 175 of the 376 seats, but lost its majority.
• July 7 – Momijigari, the oldest extant Japanese film, premiers. It runs until August 1.
• Unknown date – Kagome was founded, as predecessor name was Aichi Tomato Food Processing in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture.

Births

• January 2 – Kane Tanaka, supercentenarian (oldest verified Japanese person and the second oldest verified person ever) (d. 2022)
• January 7 – Mori Mari, author (d. 1987)
• January 25 – Fumiko Kaneko, anarchist (d. 1926)
• February 3 – Yasutarō Yagi, screenwriter (d. 1987)
• February 5 – Koto Matsudaira, diplomat (d. 1994)
• February 18 – Tokihiko Okada, silent film actor (d. 1934)
• March 6 – Empress Kōjun, empress consort of Emperor Hirohito (d. 2000)
• March 30 – Chiezō Kataoka, actor (d. 1983)
• April 11 - Misuzu Kaneko, poet (d. 1930)
• May 19 - Shimoe Akiyama, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2019)
• June 8 – Yukie Chiri, Ainu transcriber and translator (d. 1922)
• June 22 – Jiro Horikoshi, aircraft designer and engineer (d. 1982)
• August 3 – Roppa Furukawa, film actor (d. 1961)
• September 7 – Kensaku Shimaki, writer (d. 1945)
• September 28 – Tateo Katō, fighter ace (d. 1942)
• October 1 – Yoshiyuki Tsuruta, Olympic swimmer (d. 1986)
• October 13 – Takiji Kobayashi, writer (d. 1933)
• November 3 – Shizue Shiono, film actor (d. 1962)
• December 12 – Yasujirō Ozu, film director and screenwriter (d. 1963)
• December 31 – Fumiko Hayashi, writer (d. 1951)

Deaths

• February 18
• Prince Komatsu Akihito, Field Marshal, Chief of the General Staff (b. 1846)
• Onoe Kikugorō V, kabuki actor (b. 1844)
• April 28 – Saigō Tanomo, Shinto priest, martial artist and former Samurai (b. 1830)
• May 22 – Misao Fujimura, student and poet (b. 1886)
• June 29 – Rentarō Taki, pianist (b. 1879)
• August 27 – Kusumoto Ine, physician, first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan (b. 1827)
• September 13 – Ichikawa DanjÅ«rō IX, kabuki actor (b. 1838)
• October 30 – Ozaki Kōyō, author (b. 1868)

Notes

References