Araki Sadao (born May 26, 1877, Tokyo, Japan—died Nov. 2, 1966, Totsukawa) was a Japanese general, statesman, and a leader of the Kōdō-ha (Imperial Way) faction, an ultranationalistic group of the 1930s. He strongly advocated the importance of character building through rigid mental and physical discipline, whereas the dominant Tōseiha (Control) faction emphasized the importance of modernization along with self-discipline.
Araki, a graduate of the Army War College, served in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and with Japanese forces in Siberia in 1918. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1927. He was the choice of zealous young officers to head a new cabinet to be created when they executed a planned coup d’état against the government (October 1931); the coup, however, was discovered and foiled. Meanwhile, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria in September 1931, without authorization from Tokyo, and on Feb. 26, 1936, a group of young militant officers attempted a coup and assassinated Prime Minister Saitō Makoto and several cabinet members. Though Araki, who had been appointed minister of war in the Inukai Tsuyoshi cabinet, and other high officers were not connected with the group, Araki was relieved from active duty and placed on the reserve list.
In 1938 the prime minister, Konoe Fumimaro, appointed Araki minister of education in an effort to balance the growing domination by the Tōseiha. Araki vigorously promoted ultranationalism and militarism with profound effects. He remained active in the government throughout World War II. After the war, the International Military Tribunal convicted him of first-class war crimes and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He was released in June 1955 owing to ill health and was subsequently paroled.