The Kokuryu-kai, also known as the Black Dragon Society or the Amur River Society, was a Japanese ultranationalist secret society which was founded in 1901 by far-right politician Ryohei Uchida, the protege of Mitsuru Toyama. Its name referenced the Amur River, whose Chinese name, Heiliongjiang, means the "Black Dragon River", and its goal was to keep the Russian Empire out of East Asia and to annex Manchuria. The Black Dragons sought to dominate and control all of Asia, and the more fanatic visionaries claimed that Japan was destined for the calling of Hakko-ichi-u, "the Eight Corners of the World under One Roof." The Black Dragon Society became the natural successor to Toyama's Dark Ocean Society, taking over its followers, its policies, and its goals. Under the patronage and guidance of Toyama, it would push Japan into a victorious war with Russia, commit political assassinations, and do for China what the Dark Ocean Society had done for Korea - help create the conditions for a Japanese invasion. For some thirty years the organization flourished, exhorting the Japanese to wage a holy war against capitalism, Bolshevism, democracy, and the West. In the 1920s, during the era of "Taisho democracy", Japan's prewar liberalism reached its peak, as universal suffrage was introduced, labor unions grew, and the middle class greatly expanded due to further economic growth. Local politicians, and even the imperial family, continued to court and fund Toyama, and, in 1919, Toyama formed the first national federation of gangsters, the Dai Nippon Kokusui-kai (Great Japan National Essence Society). During the 1920s and 1930s, the Kokuryu-kai evolved into a mainstream political organization, and it expanded its activities to countries as far afield as Ethiopia, Turkey, Morocco, Southeast Asia, South America, Europe, and the United States during the 1930s. It was disbanded during the Allied occupation of Japan in 1946.
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