was a
Japanese author
This is an alphabetical list of writers who are Japanese, or are famous for having written in the Japanese language.
Writers are listed by the native order of Japanese names, family name followed by given name to ensure consistency although some ...
,
intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
and
political philosopher
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...
who was active in early
Shōwa period
Shōwa may refer to:
* Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa
* Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufacturer, affiliated with the Honda keiretsu
Japanese eras
* Jōwa (Heian ...
Japan. Drawing from an eclectic range of influences, Kita was a self-described
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
who has also been described as the "ideological father of
Japanese fascism
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
", although his writings touched equally upon
pan-Asianism
Satellite photograph of Asia in orthographic projection.
Pan-Asianism (''also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism'') is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian peoples. Various theories and movements of Pan-Asi ...
,
Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one o ...
, fundamental human rights and
egalitarianism
Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...
and he was involved with Chinese revolutionary circles. While his publications were invariably censored and he ceased writing after 1923, Kita was an inspiration for elements on the
far-right of Japanese politics into the 1930s, particularly his advocacy for
territorial expansion and a military coup. The government saw Kita's ideas as disruptive and dangerous; in 1936 he was arrested for allegedly joining the
failed coup attempt of 26 February 1936 and executed in 1937.
Background
Kita was born on
Sado Island
is a city located on in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Since 2004, the city has comprised the entire island, although not all of its total area is urbanized. Sado is the sixth largest island of Japan in area following the four main islands and Ok ...
,
Niigata Prefecture
is a prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area at . Niigata Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture and ...
, where his father was a
sake
Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...
merchant and the first
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
of the local
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
. Sado island, which used to be used for
penal transportation, had a reputation for being rebellious, and Kita took some pride in this. He studied
Chinese classics
Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confuci ...
in his youth and became interested in
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
at the age of 14. In 1900 he began publishing articles in a local newspaper criticizing the
Kokutai
is a concept in the Japanese language translatable as " system of government", "sovereignty", "national identity, essence and character", "national polity; body politic; national entity; basis for the Emperor's sovereignty; Japanese constitu ...
("Structure of State") theory. This led to a police investigation which was later dropped. In 1904 he moved to Tokyo, where he audited lectures at
Waseda University
, mottoeng = Independence of scholarship
, established = 21 October 1882
, type = Private
, endowment =
, president = Aiji Tanaka
, city = Shinjuku
, state = Tokyo
, country = Japan
, students = 47,959
, undergrad = 39,382
, postgrad ...
, but never earned a university degree. He met many influential figures in the early socialist movement in Japan but quickly became disillusioned; the movement was, according to him, full of "opportunists".
Ideology
At age 23, Kita published his first
book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...
in 1906 after one year of research – a massive 1,000-page political treatise titled .
In it, he criticized the government ideology of Kokutai and warned that socialism in Japan was in danger of degenerating into a watered down, simplified form of itself because socialists were too keen on compromising.
Theories of Japanese Politics
Kita first outlined his philosophy of nationalistic socialism in his book , published in 1906, where he criticized Marxism and
class conflict-oriented socialism as outdated. He instead emphasized an exposition of the
evolutionary theory
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
in understanding the basic guidelines of societies and nations. In this book Kita explicitly promotes the platonic state of authoritarianism, emphasizing the close relationship between Confucianism and the "from above" concept of national socialism stating that
Mencius is the
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
of the East and that Plato's concept of organizing a society is far preferable to Marx's.
Engagement with the Chinese Revolution
Kita's second book is titled ''An Informal History of the Chinese Revolution'' (支那革命外史 ''Shina Kakumei Gaishi'') and is a critical analysis of the Chinese Revolution of 1911.
Attracted to the cause of the
Chinese Revolution of 1911, Kita became a member of the
Tongmenghui
The Tongmenghui of China (or T'ung-meng Hui, variously translated as Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, ) was a secret society and underground resistance movement ...
(United League) led by
Song Jiaoren
Song Jiaoren (, ; Given name at birth: Liàn 鍊; Courtesy name: Dùnchū 鈍初) (5 April 1882 – 22 March 1913) was a Chinese republican revolutionary, political leader and a founder of the Kuomintang (KMT). Song Jiaoren led the KMT to elec ...
. He traveled to China to assist in the overthrow of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
.
However, Kita was also interested in the
far-right. The right-wing,
ultranationalist
Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...
Kokuryūkai (Amur River Association/Black Dragon Society),
founded in 1901. Kita—who held views on Russia and Korea remarkably similar to those espoused by the Kokuryukai—was sent by that organization as a special member, who would write for them from China and send reports on the ongoing situation at the time of the 1911
Xinhai revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a ...
.
By the time Kita returned to Japan in January 1920, he had become very disillusioned with the Chinese Revolution, and the strategies offered by it for the changes he envisioned. He joined
Ōkawa Shūmei and others to form the
Yuzonsha (Society of Those Who Yet Remain), an
ultranationalist
Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...
and Pan-Asianist organization, and devoted his time to writing and political activism. He gradually became a leading theorist and philosopher of the
right-wing movement in pre-
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 opposing ...
Japan.
Toward the Reorganization of Japan
His last major book on politics was . First written 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 flowin ...
but banned in 1919, the book was published by Kaizōsha, which was the publisher of the magazine
Kaizō
''Kaizō'' (改造 ''kaizō'') was a Japanese general-interest magazine that started publication during the Taishō period and printed many articles of socialist content. ''Kaizō'' can be translated into English as "Reorganize", "Restructure" ...
, in 1923, which was censored by the Government. The common theme to his first and last political works is the notion of a national policy (''
Kokutai
is a concept in the Japanese language translatable as " system of government", "sovereignty", "national identity, essence and character", "national polity; body politic; national entity; basis for the Emperor's sovereignty; Japanese constitu ...
''),
[Rather, he criticized conflicts between advocates of ]kokutai
is a concept in the Japanese language translatable as " system of government", "sovereignty", "national identity, essence and character", "national polity; body politic; national entity; basis for the Emperor's sovereignty; Japanese constitu ...
and advocates of Western ideas for they did not understand social change and evolution of Japan, and he thought Japan had been a democracy (minsyukoku) led by the Emperor, which was not directly imported from the Western, since the Meiji Restoration
The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
, which was a movement to be liberated from servitude to the Shogun and the Daimyo. In the introduction he also wrote “Japanese nationals surely need to understand the justice of the nation and human rights of equality”. through which Japan would overcome a coming national crisis of economics or international relations, lead a united and free Asia and unify culture of the world through Japanized and universalized Asian thoughts in order to be prepared for the appearance of the sole
superpower which would be inevitable for the
future world peace
World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...
. It thus contained aspects associated with the doctrine of
pan-Asianism
Satellite photograph of Asia in orthographic projection.
Pan-Asianism (''also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism'') is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian peoples. Various theories and movements of Pan-Asi ...
.
According to his political program, a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
would be necessary as to impose a more-or-less
state of emergency regime based on a direct rule by a powerful leader. Due to the respect that the Emperor enjoyed in the Japanese society,
[His main purpose of this coup was to clarify the meaning and the principle of the Emperor, who is the representative of the people.] Kita identified the sovereign as the ideal person to suspend the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
, organize a council created by the Emperor and radically reorganize the
Cabinet and the
Diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
, whose members would be elected by the people, to be free of any "malign influence", which would make the true meaning of the
Meiji Restoration
The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
clear. The new "National Reorganization Diet" would amend the Constitution according to the draft proposed by the Emperor, impose limits on individual wealth, private property, and assets of companies, and
establish national entities directly and unitedly operated by the Government like the
Japanese Government Railways
The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Ra ...
.
Land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
would be enacted; all
urban land would be changed to municipal property. The new state would abolish the
kazoku
The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution.
Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ...
peerage system, the
House of Peers and all but fundamental
taxes
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...
, guaranteeing male suffrage,
freedom, the
right to property, the
right to education
The right to education has been recognized as a human right in a number of international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes a right to free, compulsory primary education for ...
,
labor rights and
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
. While maintaining the Emperor as the representative of the people, privileged elites would be displaced
[They were the ]Meiji oligarchy
The Meiji oligarchy was the new ruling class of Meiji period Japan. In Japanese, the Meiji oligarchy is called the .
The members of this class were adherents of ''kokugaku'' and believed they were the creators of a new order as grand as that est ...
, Zaibatsu
is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertically integrated business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period unt ...
( Concerns), Gunbatsu
is a Japanese term having two separate meanings. Its first meaning is a reference to the Japanese military leadership which exploited its privileged status to vie against the civilian government for control over the nation's policies (particularl ...
(Military Factions), landlords
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...
, the Oriental Development Company
The Oriental Development Company (Kyūjitai/Hanja: 東洋拓殖株式會社, Hangul: 동양척식주식회사), established by the Empire of Japan in 1908, was a national enterprise built as a result of Japanese colonial exploitation policy towar ...
and so on. and the military further empowered so as to strengthen Japan and enable it to liberate Asia from Western
imperialism.
Kita asserted Japan's right as an "international
Proletariat" to conquer
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
of Far East and
Australia,
[He thought this was analogous to domestic class conflict ]Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
actually had done in Russia, which was rationalized. whose peoples would be granted the same rights as Japanese would,
[He believed that this would be a model of ]racial equality
Racial equality is a situation in which people of all races and ethnicities are treated in an egalitarian/equal manner. Racial equality occurs when institutions give individuals legal, moral, and political rights. In present-day Western societ ...
and that the only one who could govern unity between the culture of the East and that of the West was the Empire of Japan. because
social issues in Japan would never be solved if problems of
international distribution
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
were not decided. This was termed the
Shōwa Restoration
The was promoted by Japanese author Kita Ikki in the 1930s, with the goal of restoring power to the newly enthroned Emperor Shōwa and abolishing the liberal Taishō democracy. The aims of the "Shōwa Restoration" were similar to the Meiji Rest ...
.
In its historical prospect Kita's political program was for creating a
state socialism
State socialism is a political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. This is intended either as a temporary measure, or as a characteristic of socialism in the transition ...
in a fascistic oriented "socialism from above",
[He stressed that a coup is not for conservative autocracy, it is the direct expression of the ]general will
In political philosophy, the general will (french: volonté générale) is the will of the people as a whole. The term was made famous by 18th-century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Basic ideas
The phrase "general will", as Rousseau ...
, and that the general will should be expressed by the fusion of the Emperor and the people, not the authorities. as a tool to unite and strengthen Japanese society. Japan's overseas actions were meant to focus on achieving the independence of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and the maintenance of the
Republic of China to stop the partition of China
like Africa, in the name of Asian unity.
[He also mentioned there was ]anti-Japanese sentiment
Anti-Japanese sentiment (also called Japanophobia, Nipponophobia and anti-Japanism) involves the hatred or fear of anything which is Japanese, be it its culture or its people. Its opposite is Japanophilia.
Overview
Anti-Japanese senti ...
in China and argued Japan needed to deprive the UK of Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
and build a naval base
A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...
there instead of Qingdao, which had so many people that Shandong coolies
A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent.
The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...
were exported. Another goal of his program was to build the great Empire which included Korea,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
,
Sakhalin
Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...
,
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...
, the Russian Far East and Australia.
On foreign policy
He wrote a “petition” on foreign policy after the
Mukden Incident. He strongly opposed a war against America, which was a popular opinion at that time, because the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
would join the war and the Japanese navy would not defeat them. He also thought China and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
would join the war on the side of America. His proposal was that Japan should form an alliance with France and combat the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. He thought that an alliance with France would contain the British Empire, and that Japan and France shared
Anti-Russian sentiment
Anti-Russian sentiment, commonly referred to as Russophobia, is dislike or fear of Russia, the Russians, Russian culture. or Russian policy. The Collins English Dictionary defines it as intense and often irrational hatred of Russia. It is the ...
because the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
had not paid massive debt to France.
Critical Reception
Walter Skya notes that in ''On the Kokutai and Pure Socialism'', Kita rejected the Shintoist view of far-right nationalists such as
Hozumi Yatsuka
was a Japanese scholar and lawyer.
He was active in characterising the legal systems of the Japanese state, and his writings especially focused on the Meiji Constitution.
Education
Hozumi entered University of Tokyo at the age of nineteen aft ...
that Japan was an ethnically homogeneous "family state" descended through the Imperial line from the goddess
Amaterasu Omikami
Amaterasu, also known as Amaterasu Ōmikami () or Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami (), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. One of the major deities (''kami'') of Shinto, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the '' K ...
, emphasizing the presence of non-Japanese in Japan since ancient times. He argued that along with the incorporation of Chinese, Koreans, and Russians as Japanese citizens during the Meiji period, any person should be able to naturalize as a citizen of the empire irrespective of race, with the same rights and obligations as ethnic Japanese. According to Kita, the Japanese empire couldn't otherwise expand into areas populated by non-Japanese people without having to "exempt them from their obligations or ... expel them from the empire." One of his religious inspirations was the
Japanized Lotus Sutra.
His younger brother
Reikichi Kita,
political philosopher
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...
who studied for five years in the US and Europe and was a member of the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, later wrote that Kita had been familiar with
Kiichiro Hiranuma, then Chief of the Supreme Court of Justice, and in his paper in 1922 he had fiercely condemned
Adolph Joffe
Adolph Abramovich Joffe (russian: Адо́льф Абра́мович Ио́ффе, alternative transliterations Adol'f Ioffe or, rarely, Yoffe) (10 October 1883 in Simferopol – 16 November 1927 in Moscow) was a Russian revolutionary, a Bo ...
, then Soviet Russian diplomat to Japan.
This eclectic blend of racism, socialism and spiritual principles
[Masking a deeper consistency from the time of his early articles: he calls for Japanese expansion to Korea and Manchuria, as well as for militant war with Russia and Britain—whom he dubs "landlord nations", with Japan a so-called "proletarian nation".] is one of the reasons why Kita's ideas have been difficult to understand in the specific historical circumstances of Japan between the two world wars. Some have argued that this is also one of the reasons why it is hard for the historians to agree on Kita’s political stance, though Nik Howard takes the view that Kita's ideas were actually highly consistent ideologically throughout his career, with relatively small shifts in response to the changing reality he faced at any given time.
Esperanto proposal
In 1919 Kita advocated that the Empire of Japan should adopt
Esperanto. He foresaw that 100 years after its adoption the language would be the only tongue spoken in Japan proper and the vast territory conquered by it according to the
natural selection theory, making Japanese the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
or
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
equivalent of the Empire. He thought that the
writing system of Japanese is too complicated to impose on other peoples, that
romanization
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...
would not work and that English, which was taught in the
Japanese education system at that time, was not mastered by Japanese at all. He also asserted that English is poison to Japanese minds as
opium destroyed Chinese people, that the only reason it did not destroy Japanese yet was that German had more influence than English and that English should be excluded from the country. Kita was inspired by several
Chinese anarchists
Anarchism in China was a strong intellectual force in the reform and revolutionary movements in the early 20th century. In the years before and just after the overthrow of the Qing dynasty Chinese anarchists insisted that a true revolution could ...
he befriended who had called for the substitution of Chinese for Esperanto at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Arrest and execution
![Kita Ikki Cenotaph at Meguro Fudo Temple](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Kita_Ikki_Cenotaph_at_Meguro_Fudo_Temple.jpg)
Kita's ''Outline Plan'', his last book, exerted a major influence on a part of the Japanese military—especially in the
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
factions who participated in
the failed coup of 1936. After the coup attempt, Kita was arrested by the
Kempeitai
The , also known as Kempeitai, was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945 that also served as a secret police force. In addition, in Japanese-occupied territories, the Kenpeitai arrested or killed those suspecte ...
for complicity, tried by a closed military court, and executed.
In fiction
*Ikki Kita is a major character in the
historical fantasy
Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthu ...
novel ''
Teito Monogatari
is an epic historical dark fantasy/science fiction work; the debut novel of natural history researcher and polymath Hiroshi Aramata. It began circulation in the literary magazine ''Monthly King Novel'' owned by Kadokawa Shoten in 1983, and ...
'' by
Hiroshi Aramata
is a Japanese author, polymath, critic, translator and specialist in natural history, iconography and cartography. His most popular novel was ''Teito Monogatari'' (''Tale of the Capitol''), which has sold over 5 million copies in Japan alone.
...
. In the novel, he is also a
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 ...
shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...
who is deeply devoted to the
Kegon
The Huayan or Flower Garland school of Buddhism (, from sa, अवतंसक, Avataṃsaka) is a tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy that first flourished in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The Huayan worldview is based prima ...
Sutras.
*Kita appears in manga artist
Motoka Murakami
is a Japanese manga artist who primarily writes for the Seinen demographic despite beginning his career with Shounen works. He won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen for '' Gakuto Retsuden'' ( ja) in 1982 and the Shogakukan Manga Award twice, ...
's Shōwa-era epic ''Ron''.
*Kita is a secondary character in
Osamu Tezuka's ''Ikki Mandara''.
*Kita (portrayed by Hiroshi Midorigawa) figures in the plot of
Seijun Suzuki
, born (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017), was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are known for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predo ...
's 1966 film ''
Fighting Elegy
is a 1966 Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki. Filmmaker Kaneto Shindō adapted the script from the novel by Takashi Suzuki. The film has also screened under the titles ''Violence Elegy'', ''Elegy to Violence'', ''Elegy for a Quarrel'' and ' ...
''.
*In
Yukio Mishima
, born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was considered fo ...
’s novel ''
Spring Snow'', Kita’s writings figure in the reading of the most intellectual of the main characters, Honda.
::As for Honda, he could never be quite at ease unless there were books within easy reach. Among those now at hand was a book he had been lent in secret by one of the student houseboys, a book proscribed by the government. titled ''Nationalism and Authentic Socialism'', it had been written by a young man named Terujiro Kita, who at twenty-three was looked upon as the Japanese
Otto Weininger
Otto Weininger (; 3 April 1880 – 4 October 1903) was an Austrian philosopher who lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1903, he published the book ''Geschlecht und Charakter'' (''Sex and Character''), which gained popularity after his suici ...
. However, it was rather too colorful in its presentation of an extremist position, and this aroused caution in Honda’s calm and reasonable mind. It was not that he had any particular dislike of radical political thought. But never having been really angry himself, he tended to view violent anger in others as some terrible, infectious disease. To encounter it in their books was intellectually stimulating, but this kind of pleasure gave him a guilty conscience.
[Mishima, Yukio. ''Spring Snow'' (1968). English translation by Michael Gallagher, 1972. New York City: Washington Square Press, 1975. Chapter 35, p. 239.]
See also
*
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 ...
*
Sadao Araki
Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II. As one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the Empire of Japan, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the polit ...
*
Seigō Nakano
*
Socialist thought in Imperial Japan
Socialist thought in Imperial Japan appeared during the Meiji period (1868–1912) with the development of numerous relatively short-lived political parties through the early Shōwa period. Left wing parties, whether advocating communism or soci ...
*
Japanese dissidence in 20th-century Imperial Japan
Political dissidence in the Empire of Japan covers individual Japanese dissidents against the policies of the Empire of Japan.
Dissidence in the Meiji and Taishō eras High Treason Incident
Shūsui Kōtoku, a Japanese anarchist, was critical ...
*
Japanese nationalism
is a form of nationalism that asserts the belief that the Japanese are a monolithic nation with a single immutable culture, and promotes the cultural unity of the Japanese. Over the last two centuries, it has encompassed a broad range of ideas ...
*
Japanese intervention in Siberia
The of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of Japanese military forces to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by western powers and Japan to support White Russian forces against the Bolshevik Red Army during the Russian Civil ...
*
Rice riots of 1918
The were a series of popular disturbances that erupted throughout Japan from July to September 1918, which brought about the collapse of the Terauchi Masatake administration.
Causes
A precipitous rise in the price of rice caused extreme econom ...
*
Third Position
The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented a ...
Notes
References
* (in Japanese)
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
* —a movie about the life and death of Kita Ikki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kita, Ikki
1883 births
1937 deaths
Japanese writers
Japanese Esperantists
20th-century executions for treason
People from Sado, Niigata
20th-century executions by Japan
People executed for treason against Japan
Far-right politics in Japan
Third Position
Executed Japanese people
Japanese fascists
People executed by Japan by firearm
Civilians who were court-martialed
Pan-Asianists
20th-century Japanese philosophers
Meiji socialists