Kempei, Japanese equivalent of the military police of many armies, but they had intelligence and other security functions too. They were founded in 1881 as a branch of the army under the Provost Marshal General, who in turn was directly responsible to the minister of war. They were therefore both part of the army and endowed with a surveillance function over it. The Kempei headquarters was divided into a general affairs section and a services section, the first being responsible for policy, personnel, records, discipline, and ‘thought control’ in the armed forces, the second for supply, organization, and training of police units, security, and counter-espionage.
Kempei wore army uniform, with a distinguishing armband bearing the characters
ken (law) and
hei (soldier), usually black on white but occasionally red on khaki. Officers were armed with sword and revolver, other ranks with bayonet and pistol. For special duties they could wear civilian clothes. In pre-war Japan they were responsible to the minister of war for normal military duties, to the minister for home affairs when they assisted the civil police, and to the minister of justice for duties concerned with the administration of the law. They had wide powers of arrest, both within and without the armed services. Outside Japan, in Manchukuo, Korea, and later in the occupied territories of South-East Asia and the Pacific, they were responsible to the local commanders-in-chief, but also reported back to their own headquarters.
Their duties were surveillance over military discipline, security enforcement, protection of military areas, and the prevention and detection of crime among troops. They could award and execute field punishment. During campaigns they were used to round up stragglers, to patrol railway stations and ports, and to supervise dumps and depots. Their standard of education and physique was, as a rule, higher than that of the normal soldier. Other ranks were volunteers, and officers were transferred from other arms and permanently assigned to the Kempei. They were trained in special schools, usually for a year, though in wartime the period was reduced to six months. There were Kempei training establishments in Tokyo and Seoul (Korea), and in 1942 a Kempei school was set up in Singapore to serve the Southern Regions. Kempei operated in static roles in Japan and in base areas in Manchuria, Korea, and north China. In the field, the organization was different (see Chart). Field Kempei Units (
yasen kempei-tai) operated under the Area Army C-in-C, usually under the command of a maj-general or colonel. The duties of Field Kempei were wider than those in Japan. They were responsible for liaison with local communities in occupied territory, for the requisition of food and supplies, recruiting native labour, and organizing reconnaissance and espionage networks behind Allied lines. They were also involved in the issue of travel permits and identity papers, the detection of subversive anti-Japanese thought and activity, countering Allied propaganda, the supervision of hotels, post offices, canteens and depots, and the prevention of theft of military stores.
In 1937 the Kempei numbered around 315 officers and 6,000 other ranks, most of whom were NCOs. At the time of Japan's surrender in August 1945, their total in all areas numbered 36,037, distributed as shown in Table 1.
Kempei, Table 1: Geographical distribution ofKempei personnel
Source: Contributor. |
Japan | 10,679 |
Taiwan | 745 |
Korea | 1,927 |
Kwantung Army | 4,946 |
North China | 4,253 |
Central China | 6,115 |
South China | 1,094 |
French Indo-China | 479 |
Singapore | 362 |
Malaya | 758 |
Thailand | 937 |
Burma | 540 |
Philippines | 829 |
Sumatra | 387 |
Java | 538 |
Borneo | 156 |
South Seas | 89 |
5 Field Kempei | 520 |
6 Field Kempei | 163 |
8 Field Kempei | 207 |
10 Field Kempei | 163 |
Other | 150 |
After the surrender Kempei reinforcements were conscripted in order to provide security details for national shrines such as Ise and Atsuta, often as many as 2,000 men per shrine, but on 30 October 1945 they were demobilized.
The scope of their duties, and the ruthless brutality with which they carried them out, made comparison with the
Gestapo obvious. The use of beatings and torture was widespread, and in the pursuit of
chian iji (the maintenance of order) they acquired a fearful and unsavoury reputation. In the immediate post-war period, many Kempei were tried and convicted for crimes against the civilian populations of occupied territories (see also
Far East war crimes trials). Table 2 gives some idea of the proportions involved.
Kempei, Table 2: Kempei involvement in warcrimes
Source: Contributor. |
War crimes overall | |
Incidents | 2,230 |
Personnel | 5,551 |
Kempei crimes | |
Incidents | 619 |
Personnel | 1,534 |
Kempei sentences | |
Death | 447 |
Confirmed | 317 |
Executed | 312 |
Life Imprisonment | 125 |
Other | 1,050 |
Not guilty | 49 |
Louis Allen
Bibliography
Otani Keijirō , Kempei (Tokyo, 1973).
Sleeman, C. and Silkin, S. C. (eds.), Trial of Sumida Haruzo and Twenty Others (The ‘Double Tenth’ Trial) (London, 1951).
Zenkoku Kenyūkai (All-Japan Kempei Old Comrades' Association), Nihon Kempei Seishi (‘Authentic History of the Kempei’, Tokyo, 1976).
—— Nihon Kempei Gaishi (Unofficial accounts of Kempei History, Tokyo, 1983).
