Ailing former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, the behind-the-scenes kingmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced through a recorded message Monday that he will retire from politics for health reasons.

"I have been in a condition that prevents me from fulfilling my duties as a politician," Takeshita, 76, said slowly but clearly. "And I've made up my mind that I must retire."

The recently recorded cassette tape message from Takeshita was played before reporters at LDP headquarters in Tokyo as the party's influential members looked on.

Takeshita, who used to head the LDP's largest faction, currently known as the Obuchi faction, has been in a Tokyo hospital since April 1999 for pain in his spinal column. Keizo Obuchi, who inherited the faction's helm, remains in a coma and was replaced as prime minister by Yoshiro Mori in early April. It is believed Obuchi's name will also be missing from the candidate list for the next general election.

"I have walked for over 40 years in the belief that I must realize an ideal that knows no bound. But now I have decided to stop my walking quietly," Takeshita said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki, who heads the LDP lawmakers' league in Shimane Prefecture, told reporters that it was when he visited Takeshita at the hospital on April 15 that Takeshita expressed his decision to retire.

"I accepted his decision immediately there," Aoki said.

Takeshita has been elected 14 times in a row since 1958 from Shimane Prefecture's No. 2 constituency, known as the "Takeshita Kingdom."

Takeshita's 53-year-old brother, Wataru, a former NHK reporter, is expected today to announce his intention to run for Takeshita's seat in the next election.

Takeshita formed the LDP's largest faction in 1987 after splitting the powerful one formed by the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.

He reached the peak of his political career the same year when he became prime minister -- a post he relinquished in 1989 due to a bribery scandal.

Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who belongs to the Obuchi faction, praised Takeshita's past accomplishments, claiming that two main achievements will lend his name to posterity.

"One is striking the Plaza Accord (of 1985) that greatly contributed to the world economy. The other is the introduction of the consumption tax system, which has since taken roots well in Japan," Hashimoto said.

"The resignation (of Takeshita) means the end of an epoch in the nation's political history," said LDP's policy affairs chief Shizuka Kamei. "But he will maintain his (political) influence, and I hope he'll continue giving us some advice."

Opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama, who heads the Democratic Party of Japan, said that Takeshita's retirement would call for a change from Japan's typical consensus-building politics to more open debate.

"The retirement practically ended the (LDP's) way of doing politics by building consensus behind closed doors, as represented by Mr. Takeshita and Mr. Tanaka," Hatoyama said in a statement. "What Japan needs now are drastic reforms, not Takeshita-like skills."

Takeshita reportedly decided to retire after being shocked by Obuchi's sudden hospitalization. It is widely speculated that Takeshita's exit could damage the faction's unity.

Okano also to retire

Former Labor Minister Yutaka Okano, 73, notified the Liberal Democratic Party on Monday that he will retire as a member of the Upper House at the end of his current term in the summer of 2001.

Okano, currently secretary general for the LDP's Upper House members, will quit politics in line with the party's regulations that candidates be 70 or younger, his aides said.

A former Posts and Telecommunications Ministry bureaucrat, Okano was first elected to the Upper House in 1983. and later served as chairman of the budget and steering committees as well as labor minister.

LDP officials said two other Upper House members, Yoshihiko Ebihara, 71, and former Environment Agency chief Michiko Ishii, 67, will also retire at the end of their current terms.