# 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 Seiyūkai 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)
* 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 Danjūrō IX, kabuki actor (b. 1838)
* October 30 – Ozaki Kōyō, author (b. 1868)