Ōyama Ikuo

Ōyama Ikuo

Ōyama Ikuo ( Japanese 大 山 郁 夫 ; born September 20, 1880 in Aioi , Hyōgo Prefecture ; died November 30, 1955 ) was a Japanese politician and political scientist.

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Ōyama Ikuo studied at Waseda University and graduated there in 1905. From 1910 to 1914 he continued his education at the universities of Chicago and Munich. After his return he became a professor at Waseda University.

In 1917 Ōyama graduated from university and began writing "Ōsaka Asahi Shimbun" (大阪 朝日 新聞) for the newspaper. He saw it as his job to make the masses aware of the importance of supporting democratic institutions in Japan. In 1918 he founded together with Yoshino Sakuzō and others a society called "Reimeikai" (黎明 会) to promote democratic ideas. In addition, Ōyama began to publish a magazine called “We” (我 等, warera).

In 1920 Ōyama returned to Waseda University, where he became a symbol of resistance to government policy for students. In 1926 he became chairman of the "Workers and Peasants Party" (労 働 農民 党, Rōdō Nōmin-tō), which was soon dissolved by the government. Ōyama was able to re-establish the party the following year and in 1930 represented it with a seat in the lower house . Ōyama's opposition to Japan's military expansion angered right-wing organizations. Fearing attacks on his life, he left Japan and lived in the USA from 1932 to 1947.

After his return to Japan and Waseda University, Ōyama became active in the peace movement. He was elected to the upper house of parliament in 1950 by an alliance of left parties . In 1951 he received the International Stalin Peace Prize .

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Ōyama Ikuo. In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1176.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Ōyama is the family name, Ikuo the first name.