Kawai Yoshitora


Yoshitora Kawai was an active Japanese socialist and communist involved with many Tokyo-based political groups.
He attended Honzan hospital's nurse training school, but moved to Tokyo's Kameido district in September 1920 after being exposed to socialism from a professor, Oka Sensei. He was a member of Gyōminkai, a communist study group, and joined the Nankatsu Labor Union alongside Tanno Setsu. In March 1923, Kawai created the Tokyo Communist Youth League, the first instance of a group openly labeling themselves as Communists. During the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, Kawai was reported as having rescued three children who had been trapped under a collapsed house. Amidst the chaos of the earthquake's aftermath, he was captured on September 2, 1923, and a few days later, was killed by police in prison during the Kameido Incident.