# 1916 in Japan

Events in the year 1916 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 5 (大正5年) in the Japanese calendar.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Emperor Taishō
* Prime minister:
** Ōkuma Shigenobu: until October 9
** Terauchi Masatake: from October 9

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Matsui Shigeru
* Akita Prefecture: Saburo Sakamoto (until 28 April); Genzaburo Kojima (starting 28 April)
* Aomori Prefecture: Matsujiro Obama
* Ehime Prefecture: Renarto Fukamachi (until 28 April); Sakata Kanta (starting 28 April)
* Fukui Prefecture: Sato Kozaburo
* Fukushima Prefecture: Sukeji Horiguchi (until 28 April); Takukichi Kawasaki (starting 28 April)
* Gifu Prefecture: Shimada Gotaro
* Gunma Prefecture: Miyake Gennosuke
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Terada Yushi (until 28 April); Eitaro Mabuchi (starting 28 April)
* Hyogo Prefecture: Seino Chotarno (starting month unknown)
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Keisuke Sakanaka
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Ōta Masahiro (until month unknown)
* Iwate Prefecture: Rinpei Otsu
* Kagawa Prefecture: Raizo Wakabayashi
* Kochi Prefecture: Toki Kahei (until 13 October); Takeo Kakinuma (starting 13 October)
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Kawakami Shinhare (until 13 October); Ōta Masahiro (starting 13 October)
* Kyoto Prefecture: Shoichi Omori (until April); Jūshirō Kiuchi (starting April)
* Mie Prefecture:
** until 28 April: Eitaro Mabuchi
** 28 April – 23 October: Shujiro Nagata
** starting 23 October: Miki Nagano
* Miyagi Prefecture: Tsunenosuke Hamada
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Shutaro Horiuchi
* Nagano Prefecture: Tenta Akaboshi
* Niigata Prefecture: Keisuke Sakanaka (until 2 June); Tsuizui Katagawa (starting 2 June)
* Okinawa Prefecture:
** until 28 April: Kyūgorō Ōmi
** 28 April – 4 May: Iwatarō Otagiri
** starting 4 May: Kuniyoshi Suzuki
* Osaka Prefecture: Marques Okubo Toshi Takeshi
* Saga Prefecture: Ishibashi Kazu
* Saitama Prefecture: Akiratani Akira (until 13 October); Tadahiko Okada (starting 13 October)
* Shiname Prefecture: Ichiro Oriharami
* Tochigi Prefecture: Shin Kitagawa (until 2 June); Hiroyoshi Hiratsuka (starting 2 June)
* Tokyo: Yuichi Ionue
* Toyama Prefecture: Ki Masesaku
* Yamagata Prefecture: Iwataro Odakiri (until 28 April); Soeda Keiichiro (starting 28 April)

## Events

* Japan during World War I
* January 22 – Japan launches its first domestically manufactured blimp. The blimp left Tokorozawa at 1:30 p.m. and, after landing and refueling at Toyohashi, landed in Osaka at 5:10 p.m. the next day.
* November 2 – Prince Hirohito is formally proclaimed Crown Prince and heir apparent.
* October 9 – Tokyo Confectionery, as predecessor of Meiji Holdings was founded.
* Unknown date
** A truck brand, Isuzu founded, as predecessor name of Ishikawajima Automobile Manufacturing.
** Seinan Gakuin University was founded, as predecessor name was Seinan Gakuin in Fukuoka.

## Births

* January 9 – Masaharu Taguchi, freestyle swimmer (d. 1982)
* January 12 – Haruo Oka, ryūkōka singer (d. 1970)
* February 14 – Masaki Kobayashi, film director (d. 1996)
* July 1 – Olivia de Havilland, British-American film actress (d. 2020 in France)
* August 8 – Shigeo Arai, freestyle swimmer (d. 1944)
* August 25 – Saburō Sakai, naval aviator and flying ace (d. 2000)
* September 17 – Kuniko Miyake, film actress (d. 1992)
* October 10 – Sumiko Mizukubo, film actress
* October 15 – Yasuji Miyazaki, Olympic swimmer (d. 1989)

## Deaths

* January 11 – Takashima Tomonosuke, general (b. 1844)
* February 9 – Katō Hiroyuki, academic and politician (b. 1836)
* August 8 – Kamimura Hikonojō, admiral (b. 1849)
* December 9 – Natsume Sōseki, novelist and poet (b. 1867)
* December 10 – Ōyama Iwao, field marshal (b. 1842)