1903 in Japan
Events in the year 1903 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 36 in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents
Governors
- Aichi Prefecture: Masaaki Nomura
- Akita Prefecture: Shiba Sankarasu then Ichiro Tsubaki
- Aomori Prefecture: Ichiji Yamanouchi then Katsutaro Inuzuka then Shotaro Nishizawa
- Ehime Prefecture: Tai Neijro
- Fukui Prefecture: Suke Sakamoto
- Fukushima Prefecture: Arita Yoshisuke
- Gifu Prefecture: Kawaji Toshikyo
- Gunma Prefecture: Yoshimi Teru
- Hiroshima Prefecture: Asada Tokunori then Tokuhisa Tsunenori
- Ibaraki Prefecture: Chuzo Kono then Teru Terahara
- Iwate Prefecture: Ganri Hojo
- Kagawa Prefecture: Motohiro Onoda
- Kochi Prefecture: Kinyuu Watanabe then Munakata Tadashi
- Kumamoto Prefecture: Egi Kazuyuki
- Kyoto Prefecture: Baron Shoichi Omori
- Mie Prefecture: Kamon Furusha
- Miyagi Prefecture: Terumi Tanabe
- Miyazaki Prefecture: Toda Tsunetaro
- Nagano Prefecture: Seki Kiyohide
- Niigata Prefecture: Hiroshi Abe
- Oita Prefecture: Marques Okubo Toshi Takeshi
- Okinawa Prefecture: Shigeru Narahara
- Saga Prefecture: Fai Kagawa
- Saitama Prefecture: Marquis Okubo Toshi Takeshi
- Shiga Prefecture: Sada Suzuki
- Shiname Prefecture: Ryogen Kaneo then Matsunaga Takeyoshi
- Tochigi Prefecture: Sugai Makoto
- Tokushima Prefecture: Saburo Iwao
- Tokyo: Baron Sangay Takatomi
- Toyama Prefecture: Rika Ryusuke
- Yamagata Prefecture: Tanaka Takamichi
- Yamanashi Prefecture: Takeda Chiyosaburo
Events
- March 1 - 1903 Japanese general election: The Rikken Seiyūkai party remained the largest in the House of Representatives, winning 175 of the 376 seats, but lost its majority.
- July 7 - Momijigari, the oldest extant Japanese film, premiers. It runs until August 1.
- Unknown date - Kagome was founded, as predecessor name was Aichi Tomato Food Processing in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture.
Births
- January 2 – Kane Tanaka, supercentenarian
- January 7 – Mori Mari, author
- January 25 – Fumiko Kaneko, anarchist
- February 3 – Yasutarō Yagi, screenwriter
- February 5 – Koto Matsudaira, diplomat
- February 18 – Tokihiko Okada, silent film actor
- March 6 – Empress Kōjun, empress consort of Emperor Hirohito
- March 30 – Chiezō Kataoka, actor
- April 11 - Misuzu Kaneko, poet
- May 19 - Shimoe Akiyama, Japanese supercentenarian
- June 8 – Yukie Chiri, Ainu transcriber and translator
- June 22 – Jiro Horikoshi, aircraft designer and engineer
- August 3 – Roppa Furukawa, film actor
- September 7 – Kensaku Shimaki, writer
- September 28 – Tateo Katō, fighter ace
- October 1 – Yoshiyuki Tsuruta, Olympic swimmer
- October 13 – Takiji Kobayashi, writer
- November 3 – Shizue Shiono, film actor
- December 12 – Yasujirō Ozu, film director and screenwriter
- December 31 – Fumiko Hayashi, writer
Deaths
- February 18
- *Prince Komatsu Akihito, Field Marshal, Chief of the General Staff
- *Onoe Kikugorō V, kabuki actor
- April 28 - Saigō Tanomo, Shinto priest, martial artist and former Samurai
- May 22 - Misao Fujimura, student and poet
- June 29 - Rentarō Taki, pianist
- August 27 - Kusumoto Ine, physician, first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan
- September 13 - Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, kabuki actor
- October 30 - Ozaki Kōyō, author