Calling the February 26 uprising an insurrection

The revolt began only a few blocks from where Yonai was visiting his mistress, and he did not learn of it until he returned to his base the next morning. Army leaders hesitated to call their young officers rebels because that admission was considered shameful. Yonai, then commander of the Sasebo Naval District, immediately labeled them insurrection troops and had his chief of staff proclaim that position throughout the district. Naval officers then stopped assisting the rebels and withdrew from them. That choice of words fixed the navy's institutional position and removed room for local cooperation with the uprising.