was a statesman, politician and cabinet minister in Taishō and early Shōwa period

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Biography

Mochizuki was born on Ōsakikamijima, an island in the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...

, now part of

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

, where his father was an entrepreneur and ship owner. He went to Tokyo when he was age 13 and studied the English language, returning at age 17 to assist in the family business. However, he soon became interested in politics and was affiliated with the early Liberal Party of Japan. He was elected to the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

in the 1898 General Election, and was subsequently reelected from the same district 13 times. In his early career, Mochizuki spoke out strongly against factionalism in the Diet based on old clan-based affiliations. He later joined the '' Kenseitō'' political party, but was recruited as one of the founding members of the ''

Rikken Seiyūkai The was one of the main 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 Development of the Japane ...

'' by Itō Hirobumi in 1900. He rose to a high rank within the party, eventually serving as secretary-general during the administration of Prime Minister

Hara Kei was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1918 to 1921. Hara held several minor ambassadorial roles before rising through the ranks of the Rikken Seiyūkai and being elected to the House of Representatives. Hara ...

. Mochizuki first joined the Cabinet under the Tanaka administration in 1927 as Minister of Communications. The following year, he was appointed Home Minister. During his term as Home Minister, renewed activity by underground Japan Communist Party in 1928 led to the

March 15 Incident The was a crackdown on socialists and communists by the Japanese government in 1928. Among those who were arrested in the incident was the Marxist economist Kawakami Hajime. Background Although the Japan Communist Party had been outlawed and forc ...

, in which police arrested more than 1,600 Communists and suspected Communists under the provisions of the Public Safety Preservation Law of 1925. The same year, he pushed through an amendment to the law, raising the maximum penalty from ten years to death. Also while Home Minister in 1927, Mochizuki responded to a petition by pioneering Japanese

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

Shidzue Katō , also published as Shidzue Ishimoto, was a 20th-century Japanese feminist and one of the first women elected to the Diet of Japan, best known as a pioneer in the birth control movement. Early life Shidzue Katō was born on March 2, 1897, in ...

on women's suffrage by telling her to go home to wash her baby's diapers, as the place for women is in the home. However, Mochizuki broke with the ''Seiyūkai'' in 1934, forming the short-lived ''Showa-kai'' party in 1935. He returned to the cabinet as Minister of Communications from 1935–1936, and served as a Cabinet councilor during the Yonai administration in 1940. Mochizuki died just before the start of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

. His birthplace in Ōsakikamijima has been preserved as a museum. His grave is at the Tama Cemetery.
Tama Cemetery home page

References

* Henderson, Michael. ''All Her Paths are Peace:Women Pioneers in Peacemaking''. Kumarian Press (1994). * Hunter, Janet. '' A Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History ''. University of California Press (1994).

External links

National Diet Library biography

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mochizuki, Keisuke 1867 births 1941 deaths People from Hiroshima Prefecture Kenseitō politicians Rikken Seiyūkai politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Empire of Japan) Government ministers of Japan Ministers of Home Affairs of Japan