![KotokuShusui](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/KotokuShusui.jpg)
Political dissidence in the
Empire of Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...
covers individual Japanese
dissident
A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...
s against the policies of the
Empire of Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...
.
Dissidence in the Meiji and Taishō eras
High Treason Incident
Shūsui Kōtoku, a Japanese anarchist, was critical of imperialism. He would write ''Imperialism: The Specter of the Twentieth Century'' in 1901. In 1911, twelve people, including Kōtoku, were executed for their involvement in the
High Treason Incident
The , also known as the , was a socialist- anarchist plot to assassinate the Japanese Emperor Meiji in 1910, leading to a mass arrest of leftists, and the execution of 12 alleged conspirators in 1911.
Investigation
On 20 May 1910, the police se ...
, a failed plot to assassinate
Emperor Meiji
, also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...
. Also executed for involvement with the plot was
Kanno Suga, an anarcho-feminist and former common-law wife of Kōtoku.
Fumiko Kaneko and Park Yeol
Fumiko Kaneko
or rarely Park Fumiko and Park Munja, was a Japanese anarchist and nihilist. She was convicted of plotting to assassinate members of the Japanese Imperial family.
Early life
Fumiko Kaneko was born in the Kotobuki district of Yokohama during the ...
was a Japanese anarchist who lived in
Japanese occupied Korea. She, along with a Korean anarchist,
Park Yeol, were accused of attempting to procure bombs from a Korean independence group in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
. Both of them were charged with plotting to assassinate members of the Japanese imperial family.
The Commoners' Newspaper
The (Commoners' Newspaper) was a socialist newspaper which served as the leading anti-war vehicle during the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
. It was a weekly mouthpiece of the socialist (Society of Commoners). The chief writers were Kotoku Shusui and
Sakai Toshihiko
was a Japanese socialist, writer, and historian. He is also known by the pen name . He is also known for his translation with Shūsui Kōtoku.
Biography
Sakai was born as the third son to a samurai class family in what is now Miyako, Fukuoka. ...
. When the decried the high taxes caused by the war, Sakai was sentenced to two months in jail. When the paper published ''
The Communist Manifesto
''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Comm ...
'', Kotoku was given five months in prison, and the paper was shut down.
Buddhist resistance
Although the state of Japanese Buddhism during this time was generally one of servility to the Japanese authoritarian system, there were some exceptional individuals who resisted.
Uchiyama Gudō
was a Sōtō Zen Buddhist priest and anarcho-socialist activist executed in the High Treason Incident. He was one of few Buddhist leaders who spoke out against the Meiji government in its imperialist projects. Gudō was an outspoken advocate f ...
was a
Sōtō Zen
Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān ...
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
priest and
anarcho-socialist. He was one of a few Buddhist leaders who spoke out against Japanese Imperialism. Gudō was an outspoken advocate for redistributive land reform, overturning the Meiji emperor system, encouraging conscripts to desert en masse, and advancing democratic rights for all. He criticized Zen leaders who claimed that low social position was justified by karma and who sold abbotships to the highest bidder. After government persecution pushed the socialist and anti-war movements in Japan underground, Gudō visited Kōtoku Shūsui in Tokyo in 1908. He purchased equipment that would be used to set up a secret press in his temple. Gudō used the printing equipment to turn out popular socialist tracts and pamphlets, some of which were his own works. Uchiyama was executed, along with Kotoku, for their involvement with the attempted assassination of Emperor Meiji. Uchiyama's priesthood was revoked when he was convicted, but it was restored in 1993 by the Soto Zen sect.
Among other notable individuals were the
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
masters
Kōdō Sawaki
was a prominent Japanese Sōtō Zen teacher of the 20th century. He is considered to be one of the most significant Zen priests of his time for bringing Zen practice into the lives of laypeople and popularizing the ancient tradition of sewing the ...
, who expressed sentiments critical of war and its futility, and Sawaki's student
Taisen Deshimaru
was a Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist teacher, who founded the ''Association Zen Internationale''.
Biography
Early life
Born in the Saga Prefecture of Kyūshū, Deshimaru was raised by his grandfather, a former Samurai before the Meiji Revolution, ...
, who was jailed for aiding the resistance efforts of
Bangka Islanders against Japanese colonialsts.
[buddhanet: Deshimaru](_blank)
/ref>
Attempted assassination of Hirohito
Daisuke Nanba
was a Japanese student who tried to assassinate the Crown Prince Regent Hirohito in the Toranomon Incident on December 27, 1923.
Family and early life
Daisuke Nanba was born to a distinguished family. His grandfather was decorated by the Emper ...
, a Japanese student and communist, attempted to assassinate the Prince Regent Hirohito
Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
in 1924. Daisuke was outraged by the slaughter of Koreans and anarchists in the aftermath of the Great Kantō Earthquake
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
in late 1923. The dead included his partner, anarchist Sakae Ōsugi Sakae may refer to:
Places in Japan
* Sakae, Chiba (Japanese: 栄町; ''sakae-machi''), a town in Chiba Prefecture
* Sakae, Niigata (Japanese: 栄町; ''sakae-machi''), a town in Niigata Prefecture
* Sakae, Nagano (Japanese: 栄村; ''sakae-mura'') ...
, feminist Noe Itō, and Ōsugi's six-year-old nephew, who were murdered by Masahiko Amakasu
was an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army imprisoned for his involvement in the Amakasu Incident, the extrajudicial execution of anarchists after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, who later became head of the Manchukuo Film Association.
Bio ...
, the future head of the Manchukuo Film Association
or (Chinese: 株式會社滿洲映畫協會) was a Japanese film studio in Manchukuo during the 1930s and 1940s.
Background
Man'ei was established by the Kwantung Army in the occupied northeast part of China in 1937. Man'ei controlled the en ...
, a film production company based in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo
Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...
. This event was known as the Amakasu incident
The Amakasu Incident (''Amakasu jiken'') was the murder of two prominent Japanese anarchists and a young boy by military police, led by Lieutenant Amakasu Masahiko, in September 1923. The victims were Ōsugi Sakae, an informal leader of the Japa ...
. Nanba was found guilty by the Supreme Court of Japan and hanged in November 1924.
Osaka Incident
Hideko Fukuda was considered the "Joan of Arc" of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement
The (abbreviated as ) or Popular Rights Movement was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in the 1880s. It pursued the formation of an elected legislature, revision of the Unequal Treaties with the United States and European c ...
in Japan during the 1880s. She was also an editor of (Women of the World), a socialist women's paper that Shūsui Kōtoku contributed articles to. In 1885, Fukuda was arrested for her involvement in the Osaka incident, a failed plan to supply explosives to Korean independence movements. This plan was designed to destabilize Korea and force a confrontation between China and Japan, leading to a revocation of the treaties between the two. Before the plan was able to be implemented, the police arrested the conspirators and confiscated the weapons before they could leave Japan for Korea. Other participants in the plan included Oi Kentaro, another major figure of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement.
Liberal and moderate resistance
There were some critics of militarism among more mainstream socio-political circles, such as classical liberals and moderate conservatives. Saionji Kinmochi
Prince was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1906 to 1908 and from 1911 to 1912. He was elevated from marquis to prince in 1920. As the last surviving member of Japan's ''genrō,'' he was the most in ...
, who was the last of the , an imperial advisor with progressive views, and a three-time prime minister, was known to be among the aristocrats who were most supportive of parliamentary government and often clashed with the military throughout his lengthy career, leading him to be considered as a potential assassination target leading up to the failed 1936 coup d'état. Future Prime Minister and then-Foreign Minister Kijūrō Shidehara
Baron was a pre–World War II Japanese diplomat and politician. He was Prime Minister of Japan from 1945 to 1946 and a leading proponent of pacifism in Japan before and after World War II. He was the last Japanese Prime Minister who was a m ...
became known for his "Shidehara diplomacy" in the 1920s, favoring non-interventionism in China and warmer relations with the Anglo-American world.
Japanese political refugees in early 20th century America
The American West Coast, which had a large Japanese population, was a haven for Japanese political dissidents in the early 20th century. Many were refugees from the "Freedom and People's Rights Movement
The (abbreviated as ) or Popular Rights Movement was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in the 1880s. It pursued the formation of an elected legislature, revision of the Unequal Treaties with the United States and European c ...
." San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, and Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
in particular, were teeming with such people. In 1907, an open letter addressed to "Mutsuhito, Emperor of Japan from Anarchists-Terrorists" was posted at the Consulate General
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
of Japan in San Francisco. As Mutsuhito was the personal name of Emperor Meiji
, also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...
, and it was considered rude to call the emperor by his personal name, this was quite an insult. The letter began with, "We demand the implementation of the principle of assassination." The letter also claimed that the emperor was not a god. The letter concluded with, "Hey you, miserable Mutsuhito. Bombs are all around you, about to explode. Farewell to you." This incident changed the Japanese government's attitude of leftist movements. ">6/sup>
Early Shōwa era and the rise of militarism
Ikuo Oyama
Ikuo Oyama
(20 September 1880 – 30 November 1955) was a Japanese academic, politician, political scientist and writer.
Biography
He graduated from Waseda University in 1905, before graduating from the University, universities, University of Chicago, C ...
was a member of the left-leaning Labour-Farmer Party
The was a political party in the Empire of Japan. It represented the left-wing sector of the legal proletarian movement at the time.Mackie, Vera C. Creating Socialist Women in Japan: Gender, Labour and Activism, 1900–1937'. Cambridge: Cambr ...
, which advocated universal suffrage, minimum wages, and women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
. Yamamoto Senji, a colleague of his, was assassinated on February 29, on the same day as he had presented testimony in the Diet regarding torture of prisoners. The Labour-Farmer Party was banned in 1928 due to accusations of having links to communism. Oyama fled Japan in 1933 to the United States as a result. He got a job at Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
at its library and political science department. During his exile, he worked closely with the U.S. Government against the Empire of Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...
. Oyama happily shook hands with Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...
, who fought the Japanese in the Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
. Oyama was given a Stalin Award prize on December 20, 1951. However, his colleagues begged him not to accept the award for fear that he would become a Soviet puppet. Some of his oldest friends abandoned him when he accepted it.
Modern girls
were Japanese women who adhered to Westernized fashions and lifestyles in the 1920s. They were the equivalent of America's flappers
Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...
.
This period was characterized by the emergence of young working-class women with access to consumer goods and the money to buy those consumer goods. Modern girls were depicted as living in cities, being financially and emotionally independent, choosing their own suitors, and being apathetic towards politics. Thus, the modern girl was a symbol of Westernization. However, after a military coup in 1931, extreme Japanese nationalism and the Great Depression prompted a return to the 19th-century ideal of good wife, wise mother
"Good Wife, Wise Mother" is a phrase representing a traditional ideal for womanhood in East Asia, including Japan, China and Korea. First appearing in the late 1800s, the four-character phrase "Good Wife, Wise Mother" (also ) was coined by Nakamu ...
.
The Salon de thé François
The Salon de thé François was a western-style café established in Kyoto on 1934 by Shoichi Tateno, who participated in labour movements, and anti-war movements. The cafe was a secret source of funds for the then-banned Japanese Communist Party
The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world.
The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...
. The anti-fascist newspaper was edited and distributed from the café.
The Takigawa Incident
In March 1933, the Japanese parliament attempted to control various education groups and circles. The Interior Ministry banned two textbooks on criminal laws written by Takigawa Yukitoki of Kyoto Imperial University. The following month, Konishi Shigenao, president of Kyoto University, was requested to dismiss Professor Takigawa. Konishi rejected the request, but due to pressure from the military and nationalist groups, Takigawa was fired from the university. This led to all 39 faculty members of Kyoto Imperial University's law faculty resigning. Furthermore, students boycotted classes and communist sympathizers organized protests. The Ministry of Education was able to suppress the movement by firing Konishi. In addition to this attempt by the Japanese government to control educational institutions, during the term of the education minister, Ichirō Hatoyama
was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1954 to 1956. A conservative, Hatoyama helped oversee the 1955 merger of the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party to create the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), of which Hatoyam ...
, a number of elementary school teachers were also dismissed for having what were considered "dangerous thoughts".
Dissidence during World War II
Japanese working with the Chinese resistance
Kaji Wataru
or (1901–1982) was the nom de guerre for Mitsugi Seguchi (瀬口 貢 ''Seguchi Mitsugi''), a Japanese writer, literary critic, and political activist.
Biography
Wataru Kaji was born in Kyushu in 1903. He became involved with activism. Kaji wa ...
was a Japanese proletarian writer who lived in Shanghai. His wife, Yuki Ikeda, suffered through torture at the hands of the Imperial Japanese. She fled Japan when she was very young, working as a ballroom dancer in Shanghai to earn a living. They were friends with Chinese cultural leader Guo Moruo
Guo Moruo (; November 16, 1892 – June 12, 1978), courtesy name Dingtang (), was a Chinese author, poet, historian, archaeologist, and government official.
Biography
Family history
Guo Moruo, originally named Guo Kaizhen, was born on November ...
. Kaji and Yuki would escape Shanghai when the Japanese invaded the city. Kaji, along with his wife, were involved with the re-education of captured Japanese soldiers for the Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
in Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
during the Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
.
His relationship with Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
was troubled due to his anticommunism. Kaji would work with the Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
in the later stages of the war.
Sanzō Nosaka
was a Japanese writer, editor, labor organizer, communist agent, politician, and university professor and the founder of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP). He was the son of a wealthy Japanese merchant, and attended the prestigious Keio Univ ...
, a founder of the Japanese Communist Party, worked with the Chinese Communists in
Yan'an
Yan'an (; ), alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Bao'an ...
during the Second Sino-Japanese war. He was in charge of the re-education of captured Japanese troops. Japanese Intelligence in China were desperate to eliminate him, but they always failed in their attempts. Sanzo went by the name "Susumu Okano" during the war. Today, Sanzō Nosaka is considered a disgraced figure to the Japanese Communist Party
The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world.
The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...
, when it was discovered that he falsely accused Kenzō Yamamoto, a Japanese communist, of spying for Japan. Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
executed Yamamoto in 1939.
Sato Takeo was a Japanese doctor who was a member of Norman Bethune
Henry Norman Bethune (; March 4, 1890 – November 12, 1939; zh, t=亨利·諾爾曼·白求恩, p=Hēnglì Nuò'ěrmàn Báiqiú'ēn) was a Canadian thoracic surgeon, early advocate of socialized medicine, and member of the Communist Party ...
's medical team in the Second-Sino Japanese War. Norman's team was responsible for giving medical care to soldiers of the Chinese Eighth Route Army
The Eighth Route Army (), officially known as the 18th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, was a group army under the command of the Chinese Communist Party, nominally within the structure of the Chinese ...
.
Japanese working with the United States
Taro Yashima
was a Japanese-American artist and children's book author. He immigrated to the United States in 1939 and assisted the U.S. war effort.
Early life
Iwamatsu was born September 21, 1908, in Nejime, Kimotsuki District, Kagoshima, and raised there o ...
(real name Jun Atsushi Iwamatsu), an artist, joined a group of progressive artists, sympathetic to the struggles of ordinary workers and opposed to the rise of Japanese militarism
refers to the ideology in the Empire of Japan which advocates the belief that militarism should dominate the political and social life of the nation, and the belief that the strength of the military is equal to the strength of a nation.
Histo ...
in the early 1930s. The antimilitarist movement in Japan was highly active at the time, with posters protesting the Japanese aggression in China being widespread. Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria
The Empire of Japan's Kwantung Army invaded Manchuria on 18 September 1931, immediately following the Mukden Incident. At the war's end in February 1932, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo. Their occupation lasted until the ...
, however, the Japanese government began heavy handed suppression of domestic dissent including the use of arrests and torture by the Tokkō (special higher police).[ Iwamatsu who was thrown into a Japanese prison without trial along with his pregnant wife, ]Tomoe
, commonly translated as "comma", is a comma-like swirl symbol used in Japanese (roughly equivalent to a heraldic badge or charge in European heraldry). It closely resembles the usual form of a .
The appears in many designs with various us ...
, for protesting militarism in Japan. Conditions in the prison were deplorable and the two were subjected to inhumane treatment including beatings. The authorities demanded false confessions, and those who gave them were set free.[
Jun and Tomoe came to America to study art in 1939, leaving behind their son, ]Makoto Iwamatsu
was a Japanese Americans, Japanese-American actor, credited Mononym, mononymously in almost all of his acting roles as simply Mako.
His film roles include Po-Han in ''The Sand Pebbles (film), The Sand Pebbles'' (1966) (for which he was nominat ...
, who would grow up to be a prolific actor in America, with relatives. When WWII broke out, Jun joined the Office of Strategic Services as a painter. He would adopt the pseudonym Taro Yashima, to protect his son who was still in Japan. Jun would continue to use his pseudonym when he wrote children's books, such as Crow Boy, after the war.
Eitaro Ishigaki
was an American artist.
Life
Eitaro Ishigaki was born in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan in 1893. At the age of sixteen he emigrated to America in to live with his father in Seattle. A year later, in 1910, they moved to California, and in 1912, Ishigaki ...
was an issei painter who immigrated to America from Taiji, Wakayama
270px, Taiji Town Hall
270px, Taiji Whale Museum
is a town located in Higashimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 2960 in 1567 households and a population density of 510 persons per km². The tot ...
, in Japan. At the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Pacific War, he painted anti-war, and anti-fascist artwork. His painting ''Man on the Horse'' (1932) depicted a plain-clothed Chinese guerrilla confronting the Japanese army, heavily equipped with airplanes and warships. It became the cover of New Masses, an American communist journal. ''Flight'' (1937) was a painting that depicted two Chinese women escaping Japanese bombing, running with three children past one man lying dead on the ground. During the war, he worked for the United States Office of War Information
The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...
along with his wife, Ayako.
Yasuo Kuniyoshi
was a Japanese-American painter, photographer and printmaker.
Biography
Kuniyoshi was born on September 1, 1889 in Okayama, Japan. He immigrated to the United States in 1906, choosing not to attend military school in Japan. Kuniyoshi original ...
was an (first-generation Japanese immigrant) anti-fascist painter based in New York. In 1942, he raised funds for the United China Relief to provide humanitarian aid to China when it was still at war with Japan. ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine ran an article featuring Yasuo Kuniyoshi, George Grosz
George Grosz (; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objec ...
, a German anti-Nazi painter, and Jon Corbino, an Italian painter, standing behind large unflattering caricatures of Hirohito, Hitler, and Mussolini. Yasuo Kuniyoshi showed opposition to Tsuguharu Foujita
was a Japanese–French painter and printmaker born in Tokyo, Japan, who applied Japanese ink techniques to Western style paintings. At the height of his fame in Paris, during the 1920s, he was known for his portraits of nudes using an opalescen ...
's art show at the Kennedy Galleries. During WWII, Tsuguharu Foujita painted propaganda artwork for the Empire of Japan. Yasuo called Foujita a fascist, an imperialist, and an expansionist. Yasuo Kuniyoshi would work for the Office of War Information during WWII, creating artwork that depicted atrocities committed by the Empire of Japan, even though he was himself labeled an "enemy alien" in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
.
Japanese working with the British
Shigeki Oka (1878–1959) was an issei
is a Japanese-language term used by ethnic Japanese in countries in North America and South America to specify the Japanese people who were the first generation to immigrate there. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are ...
socialist and journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
for the Yorozu Choho, and a friend of Kōtoku Shūsui
, better known by the pen name , was a Japanese socialist and anarchist who played a leading role in introducing anarchism to Japan in the early 20th century. Historian John Crump described him as "the most famous socialist in Japan".
He wa ...
or Toshihiko Sakai
was a Japanese socialist, writer, and historian. He is also known by the pen name . He is also known for his translation with Shūsui Kōtoku.
Biography
Sakai was born as the third son to a samurai class family in what is now Miyako, Fukuoka. ...
. Oka would welcome Kotoku when he arrived in Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
in US. He was a member of the (World Labour League). In 1943, the British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
hired Shigeki Oka to print propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
materials in Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
in India, such as the (Soldier Newspaper).
The SOAS, University of London
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...
was used by the British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
to train soldiers in Japanese. The teachers were usually Japanese citizens who had stayed in Britain during the war, as well as Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Nisei
is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...
. When Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
, Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), was concerned about the slow pace of the SOAS
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...
, started their own Japanese language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...
courses in Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
in February 1942. The courses were directed by Royal Army cryptographer
Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...
, Col. John Tiltman
Brigadier John Hessell Tiltman, (25 May 1894 – 10 August 1982) was a British Army officer who worked in intelligence, often at or with the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) starting in the 1920s. His intelligence work was largely conn ...
, and retired Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
officer, Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
. Oswald Tuck
Instructor Captain Oswald Thomas Tuck (1 September 1876 – 26 February 1950) was a naval officer and teacher of Japanese. He served as a naval instructor in navigation and Japanese and later translated a confidential history of the Russo-Japanes ...
.
The Sorge spy ring
Richard Sorge
Richard Sorge (russian: Рихард Густавович Зорге, Rikhard Gustavovich Zorge; 4 October 1895 – 7 November 1944) was a German-Azerbaijani journalist and Soviet military intelligence officer who was active before and during Wo ...
was a Soviet military intelligence officer who conducted surveillance in both Germany and Japan, working under the identity of a Japanese correspondent for the German newspaper . He arrived in Yokohama in 1933 and recruited two journalists: Asahi Shimbun journalist Hotsumi Ozaki
was a Japanese journalist working for the ''Asahi Shimbun'' newspaper, communist, Soviet intelligence agent, and advisor to Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe. The only Japanese person to be hanged for treason (under the provisions of the Peace Pr ...
, who wanted successful communist revolutions in both China and Japan; and Yotoku Miyagi
was an Okinawan Marxist artist, Communist Party USA member, and a member of Richard Sorge's spy ring.
Early life
Miyagi was born in Okinawa in 1903. When he was sixteen, he went to California after contracting tuberculosis. He arrived in Los An ...
in 1932 who translated Japanese newspaper articles and reports into English and created a diverse network of informants.
In 1941, he relayed to the Soviet Union that Prime minister Konoe Fumimaro
Prince was a Japanese politician and prime minister. During his tenure, he presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World W ...
had decided against an immediate attack on the Soviets, choosing instead to keep forces in French Indochina (Vietnam). This information allowed the Soviet Union to reallocate tanks and troops to the western front without fear of Japanese attacks. Later that year, both Sorge and Ozaki were discovered to be guilty of treason (espionage) and were executed three years later in 1944.
Pacifist resistance
Pacifism was one of the many ideologies targeted by the Tokko. George Ohsawa
George Ohsawa (born ; October 18, 1893 – April 23, 1966) was a Japanese educator who was the founder of the macrobiotic diet. When living in Europe he went by the pen names of Musagendo Sakurazawa, Nyoiti Sakurazawa, and Yukikazu Sakurazawa. He ...
, a pacifist and the founder of the macrobiotic diet
A macrobiotic diet (or macrobiotics) is a fad diet based on ideas about types of food drawn from Zen Buddhism. The diet tries to balance the supposed yin and yang elements of food and cookware. Major principles of macrobiotic diets are to reduce ...
, was thrown in jail for his anti-war activities in January 1945. While in prison, he suffered through harsh treatment. When he was finally released, one month after the bombing of Hiroshima, he was gaunt, crippled, and 80% blind. Toyohiko Kagawa
was a Japanese Protestant Christian pacifist, Christian reformer, and labour activist. Kagawa wrote, spoke, and worked at length on ways to employ Christian principles in the ordering of society and in cooperatives. His vocation to help the ...
, a Christian pacifist, was arrested in 1940 for apologizing to the Republic of China for Japan's occupation of China. Yanaihara Tadao, another Christian, circulated an anti-war magazine beginning in 1936 and through the end of the war.
Anti-fascist bulletins
The journalist Kiryū Yūyū published an anti-fascist bulletin, , but it was heavily censored and ceased publication with Kiryū's death at the end of 1941.
A lawyer named Masaki Hiroshi had more success with his independent bulletin called . Masaki's main technique against the censors was simply masking his critiques of the government in thinly veiled sarcasm. This was apparently unnoticed by the censors, and he was able to continue publishing fierce attacks on the government through the end of the war. His magazine had many intellectual readers such as Hasegawa Nyozekan, Hyakken Uchida
was a Japanese author and academic.
Biography
Uchida was born in Okayama to a family of sake brewers whose business later went bankrupt. His real name is Eizo Uchida (内田 榮造 ''Uchida Eizō''). He became a pupil of Natsume Sōseki in ...
, Rash Behari Bose
Rash Behari Bose (; 25 May 1886 – 21 January 1945) was an Indian revolutionary leader against the British Raj. He was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar Mutiny and founded the First Indian National Army during World War 2. The Indian N ...
and Saneatsu Mushanokōji
was a Japanese novelist, playwright, poet, artist, and philosopher active during the late Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan. Later on in life he requested that the pronunciation of his surname (as far as was concerned) be changed from the usua ...
. After the war, Masaki became an idiosyncratic defense lawyer, successfully forcing many recognitions of police malpractice at great risk to his life.
A lesser known bulletin was , a monthly critique of the army published by the humorist Ubukata Toshirō Ubukata (written: 冲方) is a Japanese surname
Officially, among Japanese names there are 291,129 different Japanese surnames, as determined by their kanji, although many of these are pronounced and romanized similarly. Conversely, some surnames w ...
. Again, the use of satire without explicit call to political action allowed Ubukata to avoid prosecution through the end of the war, although two issues were banned. He ceased publication in 1968.
''A Diary of Darkness''
Kiyosawa Kiyoshi was an American-educated commentator on politics and foreign affairs who lived in a time when Japanese militarists rose to power. He wrote a diary as notes for a history of the war, but it soon became a refuge for him to criticize the Japanese government, and to express opinions he had to repress publicly. It chronicles growing bureaucratic control over everything from the press to people's clothing. Kiyosawa showed scorn towards Tojo and Koiso, lamenting the rise of hysterical propaganda, and related his own and his friends' struggles to avoid arrest. He also recorded the increasing poverty, crime, and disorder, tracing the gradual disintegration of Japan's war effort and the looming certainty of defeat. His diary was published under the name ''A Diary of Darkness: The Wartime Diary of Kiyosawa Kiyoshi'', in 1948. It is today regarded as a classic.
Antiwar film
Fumio Kamei
(1 April 1908 – 27 February 1987) was a left-wing Japanese documentary and fiction film director.
Biography
Kamei went to the Soviet Union in 1928 to study filmmaking, but had to return home because of an illness. He eventually began working ...
was arrested under the Peace Preservation Law after releasing two state-funded documentaries that, while purporting to be celebrations of Japan and its army, portrayed civilian victims of Japanese war crimes
The Empire of Japan committed war crimes in many Asian-Pacific countries during the period of Japanese militarism, Japanese imperialism, primarily during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Second Sino-Japanese and Pacific Wars. These incidents have b ...
and mocked the "sacred war" message and "beautiful Japan" propaganda. He was released after the war and continued to make anti-establishment films.
involvement in Japanese resistance
Karl Yoneda
Karl Gozo Yoneda ( ja, 米田 剛三, July 15, 1906 – May 8, 1999) was a Japanese American activist, union organizer, World War II veteran and author. He played a substantial role in the founding of the International Longshore and Warehous ...
was a (second-generation Japanese immigrant) born in Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
. Before World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he went to Japan to protest the Japanese invasion of China with Japanese militants. Toward the end of 1938 he was involved with protests of war cargo heading to Japan along with Chinese and Japanese militants. He would join the United States Military Intelligence Service
The Military Intelligence Service ( ja, アメリカ陸軍情報部, ''America Rikugun Jōhōbu'') was a World War II U.S. military unit consisting of two branches, the Japanese American unit (described here) and the German-Austrian unit based ...
in the war.
Koji Ariyoshi
(1914–1976) was a Nisei labor activist and a Sergeant in the United States Army during the Second World War.
Early life
Ariyoshi was born in Hawaii in 1914 to Japanese immigrant parents. Ariyoshi grew up helping his family make a living on a ...
was a sergeant in the U.S. Army during WWII, and an opponent of Japanese militarism. He was a member of the United States Dixie Mission
The United States Army Observation Group, commonly known as the Dixie Mission, was the first US effort to gather intelligence and establish relations with the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army, then headquartered in the mo ...
, where he met Sanzo Nosaka and Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
. During the war, he also met with Kaji Wataru in Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
, hearing about him when he was in Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. Koji Ariyoshi would form the Hawaii-China People's Friendship Association in 1972.
Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai resistance
The renowned educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, based on the teachings of the 13th century religious revolutionary Nichiren Daishonin, attributed the various troubles Japan was experiencing to the acceptance of Nembutsu and other false religious doctrines which slander human life. His religious beliefs compelled him to take a stand against the government, earning him a reputation as a political dissident. His faith in Nichiren Buddhism motivated him toward "active engagement to promote social good, even if it led to defiance of state authority". Consequently, Makiguchi (as its leader) and the lay organization following the Daishonin's teachings (the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai) soon attracted the attention of the Special Higher Police (similar to the Nazi Gestapo).
In 1943, Makiguchi and the lay organization were instrumental in persuading their priesthood - Nichiren Shōshū - to refuse a government-sponsored mandate to merge with Nichiren Shū
Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period.
Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of ...
based on the 'Religious Organizations Law' which had been established in 1939. As the war progressed, the Japanese government ordered that a talisman
A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed perm ...
(object of devotion) from the Shinto religion should be placed in every home and temple. Bowing to the militaristic regime, the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood agreed to accept the placing of a talisman inside its head temple. Defending the purity of the Daishonin's teachings, Makiguchi and the Soka Gakkai leadership openly refused. During his prison interrogation by the thought police, Makiguchi shared that his group had destroyed at least 500 of the talismans, a seditious act in those days.
In 1942, a monthly magazine published by Makiguchi called was shut down by the militaristic government, after only nine issues. Makiguchi, his disciple Josei Toda, and 19 other leaders of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (Value Creating Education Society) were arrested on July 6, 1943 on charges of breaking the Peace Preservation Law and lèse-majesté
Lèse-majesté () or lese-majesty () is an offence against the dignity of a ruling head of state (traditionally a monarch but now more often a president) or the state itself. The English name for this crime is a borrowing from the French, w ...
: for "denying the Emperor's divinity" and "slandering" the Ise Grand Shrine
The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and .
The Inn ...
.
With its leadership decimated, the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai was forced to disband. During interrogation, Makiguchi insisted that "The emperor is an ordinary man ... the emperor makes mistakes like anyone else". The treatment in prison was harsh, and within a year, all but Makiguchi, Josei Toda, and one more director had recanted and been released. On November 18, 1944, Makiguchi died of malnutrition in prison, at the age of 73. Toda was released after the war and rebuilt the lay organization together with his disciple Daisaku Ikeda. The movement for peace, culture and education spread worldwide and is known today as the Soka Gakkai International (SGI).
The details of Makiguchi's indictment and subsequent interrogation were covered in July, August, and October (1943) in classified monthly bulletins of the Special Higher Police. However, some historians have differing interpretations about Makiguchi's resistance to the government. Ramseyer postulated in 1965 that Makiguchi attracted the attention of the government's Special Police due to the aggressive propagation efforts of some of his followers.[Robert L. Ramseyer. "The Soka Gakkai". "The neighbor complained to the police, who arrested Jinno and a director of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai named Arimura." In Beardsley, Richard K., editor, Studies in Japanese culture I. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1965. p. 156] Other scholars, examining both Makiguchi's indictment and his interrogation records, point to his consistent opposition to the existing government.
Conservative, centrist, and classical liberal resistance
Saitō Takao caused a stir in his time for delivering a fiery speech against the Sino-Japanese War, leading to his expulsion from the Diet. Kan Abe
was a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1937 to 1946. He was the father of former Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe and the grandfather of former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.
Life
Abe was born on 29 April 1894 ...
, the paternal grandfather of later Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍 晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...
, was elected to the Diet in 1942 on an anti-Hideki Tojo
Hideki Tojo (, ', December 30, 1884 – December 23, 1948) was a Japanese politician, general of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), and convicted war criminal who served as prime minister of Japan and president of the Imperial Rule Assistan ...
platform along with future Prime Minister Takeo Miki
was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1974 until 1976.
Early life and family
Takeo Miki was born on 17 March 1907, in Gosho, Tokushima Prefecture (present-day Awa, Tokushima), the only child of farmer-merchant H ...
, who also secured election to the Diet in 1942 on an anti- Tojo platform through mutual assistance with Abe. Another future prime minister who opposed militarism was Tanzan Ishibashi
was a Japanese journalist, Nichiren Buddhist priest, and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan for two months from 1956 to 1957, before resigning due to illness. He simultaneously served as Director General of the Japan Defense Agency. F ...
, who spearheaded numerous articles and organisations before and during the war that opposed Japanese colonialism and illiberal authoritarian policies, being aided in his efforts by thinkers such as Kiyoshi Kiyosawa and Kisaburo Yokota.
See also
*Japanese in the Chinese resistance to the Empire of Japan
Throughout the Second Sino-Japanese war (1937–1945), Japanese dissidents and Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) joined the Chinese in the war against the Empire of Japan.
An IJNAF A5M fighter pilot who was shot down on 26 September 1937, had a ...
*Japanese Resistance to the Imperial House of Japan
Anti-monarchism in Japan was a minor force during the twentieth century.
History
In 1908, a letter allegedly written by Japanese revolutionaries denied the Emperor's divinity, and threatened his life. In 1910, Kōtoku Shūsui and 10 others plot ...
*Dissent in the Armed Forces of the Empire of Japan Dissent in the Armed Forces of the Empire of Japan refers to serious cases of military insubordination within the institution, from the founding of the Empire of Japan in 1868 to its defeat during World War II in 1945.
On 26 February 1936, a grou ...
*
* List of Japanese dissidents in Imperial Japan
*Assassination attempts on Hirohito
During the 1920s and 1930s, there were three known assassination attempts on Hirohito, the Emperor of Japan. The assailants were all either Korean or Japanese. Assassination attempts on Hirohito took place throughout his reign as Prince regent, a ...
*Popular Front Incident
The refers to the Imperial Japanese government's suppression of a perceived threat from the political left after the fall of Nanjing during the Shōwa period. During the incident, approximately 400 people were arrested by the authorities between ...
*Japanese American service in World War II
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the West Coast because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage. As the war progressed, many of the y ...
*German resistance to Nazism
Many individuals and groups in Germany that were opposed to the Nazi Germany, Nazi regime engaged in active resistance, including assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler, attempts to remove Adolf Hitler from power by assassination or by overthro ...
*Italian resistance
The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...
References
{{reflist, colwidth=30em
Japan in World War II
Japanese Resistance
World War II resistance movements
Japanese anti-fascists