Kensei Hontō () was a political party in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

History

The party was established on 3 November 1898 following a split in the

Kenseitō The was a political party in the Meiji period Empire of Japan. History The ''Kenseitō'' was founded in June 1898, as a merger of the Shimpotō headed by Ōkuma Shigenobu and the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō) led by Itagaki Taisuke, with Ōkuma a ...

. Kenseitō had been formed earlier in the year by a merger of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

and Shimpotō, and it was former members of the latter that founded Kensei Hontō.Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, pp547–548 However, 34 party members defected in 1901 over party leader

Ōkuma Shigenobu Marquess was a Japanese politician who served as the prime minister of Japan in 1898, and from 1914 to 1916. Born in the Saga Domain, Ōkuma was appointed minister of finance soon after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, aided by his friendship w ...

's support for the 4th Itō government's efforts to raise taxes to pay for expenses incurred in the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

. In the

1902 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1902. * 1902 Brazilian presidential election * 1902 Danish Landsting election * 1902 French legislative election Europe United Kingdom * 1902 Bury by-election * 1902 Cleveland by-election * 1902 Leeds ...

it won 95 of the 376 seats, finishing second to

Rikken Seiyūkai The was one of the main political party, political parties in the pre-war Empire of Japan. It was also known simply as the ''Seiyūkai''. Founded on September 15, 1900, by Itō Hirobumi,David S. Spencer, "Some Thoughts on the Political Devel ...

, which had been formed by a merger of the remainder of the Kenseitō, several independent

National Diet , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

members, some Teikokutō members, and nine members of Kensei Hontō, including

Yukio Ozaki was a Japanese politician of liberal signature, born in modern-day Sagamihara, Kanagawa. Ozaki served in the House of Representatives of the Japanese Diet for 63 years (1890–1953). He is still revered in Japan as the "God of constitutional ...

. It was reduced to 85 seats in the 1903 elections, at which point it allied with Rikken Seiyūkai to oppose the first Katsura Tarō government. It gained five seats in the 1904 elections. In 1907, Ōkuma resigned as president, and in the 1908 general elections, the party was reduced to 70 seats. In March 1910 it merged with the Mumeikei, seven

members from the

Boshin Club The Boshin Club was a political party in Japan. History The party was established in December 1908 during a period in which several anti-Rikken Seiyūkai groups began to coalesce in reaction to Rikken Seiyūkai's victory in the 1908 Japanese gen ...

and half of the Yūshinkai to form

Rikken Kokumintō The Rikken Kokumintō () was a minor political party in the Empire of Japan. It was also known as simply the Kokumintō. History The ''Kokumintō'' was founded in March 1910, by a merger of the ''Kensei Hontō'' with a number of minor political ...

.Fukui, p471

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kensei Honto Defunct political parties in Japan Political parties established in 1898 1898 establishments in Japan Political parties disestablished in 1910 1910 disestablishments in Japan Political parties in the Empire of Japan