ABSTRACT
The Taisho Crisis began a slow shift in the balance of power among the Genro in favour of Saionji. The shift was to be intensified over the following years by the consolidation of Saionji’s power base and the increasingly violent splits amongst the elites which constituted the Yamagata faction. The extent of Saionji’s influence within the Genro group in the subsequent cabinet changes is significant of the splits in the balance of power within and between the elites which were precipitated by the breakdown of the Keien compromise.
