Anarchism in Japan began to emerge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as Western anarchist literature began to be translated into Japanese. It existed throughout the 20th century in various forms, despite repression by the state that became particularly harsh during the two world wars, and it reached its height in the 1920s with organisations such as Kokuren and Zenkoku Jiren.
Japanese anarchism had a number of notable leading figures who dominated the movement at different times. The first of these leaders was Kōtoku Shūsui, who led the development of an anarchist faction within existing left-wing movements, which then split into its own independent movement in the first decade of the 1900s. Kōtoku was executed for treason in 1911, and the movement was subject to severe repression for a decade. The next leading figure was Ōsugi Sakae, who involved himself heavily in support for anarcho-syndicalism and helped to bring the movement out of its 'winter period', until he was murdered by military police in 1923.
Another leading figure was Hatta Shūzō, who reoriented the anarchist movement in a more anarcho-communist direction during the late 1920s, opposing labour unions as a tool of revolution. This produced a split between anarcho-syndicalists and anarcho-communists, which dominated anarchist politics and weakened the movement. From 1931 onwards, the anarchist movement was suppressed more harshly due to the wartime policies of the Empire of Japan. After the war, an anarchist movement once again appeared (the Japanese Anarchist Federation) and was led by important pre-war anarchists such as Iwasa Sakutarō and Ishikawa Sanshirō, but it was once again weakened by splits between the two factions.
From very early on in the history of Japanese anarchism, the movement was in close contact with anarchists from Europe, America, and elsewhere in Asia. Japanese anarcho-syndicalist ideas were often inspired by French syndicalists, and works by writers such as Peter Kropotkin and Emma Goldman had a great influence on the Japanese anarchist movement.
Origins Andō Shōeki, an eighteenth-century Japanese doctor and philosopher, is sometimes considered to be proto-anarchist in thought. He advocated what was described by Bowen Raddeker as "what we might call mutual aid", and he challenged the hierarchical relationships in Japanese society, including the hierarchy between the sexes. In 1908, the early socialist and anarchist Japanese newspaper Nihon Heimin Shinbun described him as an anarchist.
The communalist structure of some agricultural villages during the Tokugawa era is also seen as being proto-anarchist. One individual who would become an anarchist in his adult life, Iwasa Sakutarō, was born in a farming hamlet in the early Meiji era. His grandfather had used his influence as headman to encourage communal farming practices, resulting in the creation of a "half-communist village". This helped to inspire Iwasa to believe in the possibility of an anarchist society.
Modern anarchist ideas first had an influence in Japan on the extreme end of the Japanese liberal movement. In the 1880s, the rise of the pro-democracy Freedom and People's Rights Movement coincided with the prominent assassination of Alexander II of Russia by left-wing extremists, and historian Tsuzuki claimed that "the ideal figure for Liberal extremists was said to be an assassin." Kōtoku Shūsui, who would later become a leading anarchist, started off as a supporter of liberal parties including the Rikken Jiyūtō in the 1890s, even acting as the English translator for their newspaper for two years. When the liberal faction joined the new right-wing Rikken Seiyūkai party in 1900, however, Kōtoku became disillusioned with liberalism. He was attracted to socialism instead, and quickly involved himself in the budding socialist movement.
Early socialist movement
In 1898, Kōtoku joined the staff of the Yorozu Chūhō newspaper, wherein he published an article in 1900 condemning war in Manchuria. He published his first book in 1901, titled Imperialism, Monster of the Twentieth Century, which was a monumental work in the history of Japanese leftism, criticising both Japanese and Western imperialism from the point of view of a revolutionary socialist. In May 1901, Kōtoku was involved in the founding of the first Social Democratic Party in Japan. It was immediately outlawed under the 1900 Peace Preservation Law, despite its commitment to parliamentary tactics. In 1903, he also wrote the book Quintessence of Socialism, acknowledging influence from Karl Marx.
As Japan drew closer to war with Russia, Kōtoku collaborated with fellow socialist Sakai Toshihiko and the Christian pacifist Uchimura Kanzō to oppose the war. After the editor of Yorozu Chūhō endorsed the idea of a war with Russia in 1903, they withdrew from the newspaper. Together with another socialist, Ishikawa Sanshirō, Kōtoku and Sakai started the anti-war Heimin-sha group and its associated newspaper Heimin Shinbun (literally "Commoners' Newspaper") in November 1903, founded on the slogans of "Democracy, Socialism, and Pacifism".
When the Russo-Japanese War broke out anyway in February 1904, it had a significant impact upon Japanese radicals. The newspaper published an appeal "To the Socialists in Russia", advocating an anti-war perspective, while also urging radicals only to fight against their government using peaceful means. Iwasa Sakutarō, living in the United States at this point, was particularly radicalised towards anarcho-communism as a result of the war.
Kōtoku translated Marx's The Communist Manifesto into Japanese for the first time, published in Heimin Shinbun in its anniversary issue, for which he was fined. The newspaper subsequently was closed down by the government, and it ceased publication in January 1905. Its last edition was printed entirely in red ink. Its fairly brief run earned Kōtoku a short prison sentence, which he served from February to July 1905. After the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War, the Heimin-sha group dissolved itself in November 1905.
Emergence of anarchism (1905–1911) Kōtoku's imprisonment only gave him further opportunities to read leftist literature, such as Peter Kropotkin's Fields, Factories and Workshops, and he announced in August 1905 that "Indeed, I had gone [to prison] as a Marxian Socialist and returned as a radical Anarchist." He decided to leave Japan due to its restrictions on freedom of speech, and travelled to the United States in November 1905, where he lived until June 1906.
While in America, he spent most of his time in California, and his ideology further shifted towards anarchism. He wrote to the anarcho-communist Kropotkin, who gave him permission to translate his works into Japanese. Kōtoku also came into contact with the Industrial Workers of the World, an anarcho-syndicalist union, and became aware of Emma Goldman's anarchist newspaper Mother Earth.
Before he left California, Kōtoku founded a Social Revolutionary Party (Shakai Kakumei Tō) among Japanese-American immigrants. More than 50 people joined the party, including Iwasa Sakutarō. The party was inspired by the Russian Socialist Revolutionaries who often used violent tactics, and the Japanese party quickly radicalised towards the use of these tactics to bring about the anarchist revolution. The party began publishing a journal entitled Kakumei (Revolution), which routinely made such statements as "the sole means [to achieve revolution] is the bomb". They also published an 'Open Letter' addressed to Emperor Meiji threatening his assassination in 1907, which provoked Japanese politicians to implement harsher crackdowns on left-wing groups.
Kōtoku arrived back in Japan on June 28, 1906, where he spoke to a meeting about "The Tide of the World Revolutionary Movement". In this speech, he spoke on the ideas he had developed while in the US, and most notably raised the question of whether reform or revolution was the suitable approach for Japanese leftism. This speech had a great impact upon Japanese socialists, and led to many seriously challenging the usefulness of contesting parliamentary elections.
In September 1906, Kōtoku received a letter from Kropotkin himself, which he published in the socialist press in November 1906, which promoted the rejection of parliamentary tactics in favour of what he called "anti-political syndicalism". In early 1907, he published a series of articles expanding upon this idea, including the most famous, which was titled "The Change In My Thought", in which he argued that "A real social revolution cannot possibly be achieved by means of universal suffrage and a parliamentary policy. There is no way to reach our goal of socialism other than by the direct action of the workers, united as one."
Split from the Socialist Party
An anarchist faction had firmly emerged within the socialist movement, largely due to Kōtoku's influence. Nevertheless, united organisations between anarchists and the more reformist social democrats still existed, such as the Japan Socialist Party which had been founded in 1906. This organisation had pledged to advocate socialism only within the limits of the law, and had been permitted to do so by the more moderate government of Saionji Kinmochi. Sakai Toshihiko also made great effort to reunite anarchists and socialists to restart the publishing of Heimin Shinbun, which he managed to do in January 1907.
In February 1907, the Japan Socialist Party held a party conference in Tokyo. The ideas promoted by Kōtoku had seriously challenged the party program and its pledge to observe reformist tactics, and a vigorous debate ensued between the 'soft' pro-parliamentary and 'hard' pro-direct action factions. A compromise ultimately prevailed narrowly over Kōtoku's resolution by 28 to 22 votes, but the demonstration of the strength of the anarchist movement had drawn the attention of the government. As a result, the party was banned just days after the conference; Heimin Shinbun closed in April 1907, due to the split.
The 'hard' faction faced many problems in the years following 1907. In June 1908, the Red Flag Incident occurred, in which an anarcho-communist demonstration was attacked by police. Many significant figures in the nascent movement were arrested, including Ōsugi Sakae, Hitoshi Yamakawa, Kanno Sugako, and Kanson Arahata.
Kōtoku endeavoured to translate an American anarcho-syndicalist pamphlet titled The Social General Strike. Unions were banned due to the 1900 Peace Preservation Law, however, and much anarchist discussion, particularly surrounding unions, was highly theoretical rather than practical. The goal of a revolutionary general strike learned from the syndicalist IWW was frustrated both by a failure to organise workers and by the suppression of labour movements.
Kōtoku also translated Kropotkin's seminal work The Conquest of Bread into Japanese, finishing in 1909. He was assisted by Ōsugi and Yamakawa, whose work was cut short by their imprisonment.
In 1910, Akaba Hajime penned a pamphlet entitled The Peasant's Gospel (Nômin no Fukuin) which argued in favour of creating an anarchist paradise through anarchist communism, demonstrating the influence of Kropotkin on the movement. He was forced to go underground after illegally distributing the pamphlet, but eventually he was caught and imprisoned, dying in custody in 1912.
High Treason Incident
The Japanese anarchist movement existed under harsh and repressive conditions, limiting the range of activity of its members. They had an extensive historical connection with terrorism and violence, such as their ideological affinity with assassination and the violent tactics of the Russian Socialist Revolutionaries. Therefore, some anarchist militants began to make plans for a bombing campaign in 1909.