<Li> February 26 Incident </Li> <Li> Second Sino - Japanese War </Li> <P> Hideki Tojo (Kyūjitai: 東條 英機; Shinjitai: 東条 英機; Tōjō Hideki (help info); December 30, 1884--December 23, 1948) was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), the leader of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, and the 27th Prime Minister of Japan during much of World War II, from October 17, 1941, to July 22, 1944 . As Prime Minister, he was responsible for ordering the attack on Pearl Harbor, which initiated war between Japan and the United States, although planning for it had begun in April 1941, before he entered office . After the end of the war, Tojo was arrested and sentenced to death for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, and hanged on December 23, 1948 . </P> <P> Hideki Tojo was born in the Kōjimachi district of Tokyo on December 30, 1884, as the third son of Hidenori Tojo, a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army . Under the bakufu, Japanese society was divided rigidly into four castes; the merchants, peasants, artisans and the samurai . After the Meiji Restoration, the caste system was abolished in 1871, but the former caste distinctions in many ways persisted afterwards, ensuring that those from the former samurai caste continued to enjoy their traditional prestige . The Tojo family came from the samurai caste, though the Tojos were relatively lowly warrior retainers for the great daimyōs (lords) that they had served for generations . Tojo's father was a samurai turned Army officer and his mother was the daughter of a Buddhist priest, making his family very respectable, but poor . </P>

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