Factions in The Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) - Historical Factions - List of Major Historical Factions

List of Major Historical Factions

The LDP's factions can loosely be grouped into two main currents. They developed in the years following the "conservative merger" (hoshu gōdō) of 1955 when Shigeru Yoshida's Liberal Party and Ichirō Hatoyama's Japan Democratic Party united to form the LDP. Factions of former Liberals are called hoshu honryū ("conservative mainstream") while the factions of former Democrats hoshu bōryū ("conservative anti-mainstream"). Present-day factions and leaders (as of January 2010) in bold.

• Ex-Liberals ("conservative mainstream")
  • "Yoshida school" (Yoshida gakkō) centered around ex-bureaucrats loyal to Yoshida
    • Kōchikai (Ikeda → Maeo → Ōhira → Suzuki → Miyazawa → Katō faction), split following the "Katō rebellion" (Katō no ran) against party president Yoshirō Mori in 2000
      • Kōchikai (Katō → Ozato → Tanigaki faction) of Katō loyalists, remerged into the other Kōchikai in 2008
      • Kōchikai (Horiuchi → Niwa-Koga → Koga faction), voted against Katō's no-confidence motion in 2000, now reunited under Koga
      • Taiyūkai (Kōno faction) → Ikōkai (Asō faction), formed by supporters of a second term for Yōhei Kōno in the LDP presidential election of 1995 from the Miyazawa faction
    • Mokuyō Kenkyūkai → Shūzankai → Mokuyō Club → Keiseikai → Heisei Kenkyūkai (Satō → Tanaka → Takeshita → Obuchi → Hashimoto → Tsushima → Nukaga faction)
      • Shūzan Club (Hori faction), merged into the anti-mainstream's Fukuda faction
      • Kaikaku Forum 21 (Hata faction), split off the Takeshita faction in 1992 following the Sagawa Express scandal, voted with the opposition in a no-confidence motion against Kiichi Miyazawa in 1993 and subsequently left the LDP to form the Japan Renewal Party making the LDP lose its lower house majority ahead of the 1993 general election
    • Suiyōkai (Ogata → Ishii faction)
  • Hatoyama supporters
    • Hakuseikai (Ōno faction), split into the Murakami → Mizuta faction and the Funada faction, both groups disappeared
• Ex-Democrats ("conservative anti-mainstream")
  • Hatoyama supporters
    • Tōkakai → Tōfū Ishin Renmei (Kishi faction) → Yōkakai → Seiwakai → Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai (Fukuda → Abe → Mitsuzuka → Mori → Machimura faction)
      • Aiseikai (Fujiyama faction), formed to support Fujiyama's (unsuccessful) runs in the LDP presidential elections of the 1960s
      • Kōyū Club (Kawashima → Shiina), split off from the Kishi faction in 1962, dissolved after Shiina's resignation
    • Shunjūkai (Kōno faction) → Shinsei Dōshikai → Seisaku Kagaku Kenkyūjo (Nakasone → Watanabe faction), without a clear leader following Watanabe's death in 1995, merged with the Kamei group after the formation of Taku Yamasaki's independent faction in 1998
      • Shunjūkai (Kōno → Mori → Sonoda faction), merged into the Fukuda faction after Sonoda had died in 1984
      • Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai (Yamasaki faction)
      • Shisuikai (Murakami → Etō → Kamei → Ibuki faction), formed by the remaining Ex-Watanabe faction members and a breakaway group from the Mitsuzuka faction led by Kamei
    • Kayōkai (Ishibashi faction) → Futsukakai (Ishida faction), merged into the Miki faction in 1971
  • former Kaishintō (Progressive Party)
    • Seisaku Kondankai (Miki-Matsumura faction) → Banchō Seisaku Kenkyūjo (Miki faction) → Shin-seisaku Kenkyūkai (Kōmoto faction) → Banchō Seisaku Kenkyūjo (Kōmura faction)
• Others
  • Jiyū Kakushin Dōmei (Nakagawa → Ishihara faction), merged into the Fukuda faction
  • Atarashii Nami (Nikai faction), faction of former members of the New Conservative Party, merged into the Ibuki faction in 2009