Gen'yōsha

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Tōyama Mitsuru (center) and Kodama Yoshio (front, second from left) at a Gen'yōsha meeting in 1929

The Gen'yōsha ( Japanese 玄 洋 社 , literally: "Black Ocean Society", English Black Ocean Society or Dark Ocean Society ) was an influential ultranationalist political organization ( Uyoku ) in the Japanese Empire .

Forerunner of Kōyōsha

It was founded as Kōyōsha ( 向陽 社 ) by the earlier samurai Hiraoka Kotarō (1851-1906) and Tōyama Mitsuru . Hiraoka was also a mine owner in Manchuria . The aim of the Kōyōsha was initially to restore the previously abolished feudal order with its privileges and state pay for the class of samurai. She took part in several uprisings by former samurai in Kyushu against the early Meiji government. After the suppression of the Satsuma rebellion in 1877, she discarded these goals, joined the " Movement for Freedom and Civil Rights " ( 自由民 権 運動 , jiyū minken undō ) and advocated the establishment of a national parliament.

founding

In 1881 the Kōyōsha changed direction again, this time with the declared aim of “honoring the imperial family and the empire” and “protecting civil rights”. In truth, however, she advocated Japan's military expansion into the Asian continent. This was also reflected in the new name of the organization Gen'yōsha , which is based on the Genkai Sea that separates Japan from the Korean peninsula.

The Gen'yōsha was a terrorist secret society, which attracted disaffected samurai on the one hand and organized crime persons on the other hand, to carry out acts of violence up to the murder of foreigners and liberal politicians.

activities

Japan

In 1889 the Gen'yōsha railed against the plan presented by Foreign Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu to revise the unequal treaties . The Gen'yōsha member Kurushima Tsuneki committed a bomb attack on October 18, 1889, in which Ōkuma lost a leg. In the 1892 election, the Gen'yōsha drove a campaign of intimidation and violence with the approving support of the Matsukata government . 35 people were killed and 395 wounded.

China

One of the main goals of the Gen'yōsha were the Chinese triads , some of which were very hostile to Japan, but with the Gen'yōsha they also shared the common goal of overthrowing the Qing dynasty . In 1881, Tōyama sent over 100 men to China to gather information and infiltrate the triads. One of the most detailed accounts of these actions comes from Gen'yōsha member Hiraya Amane, who helped establish the Chinese headquarters in Hangzhou . The Gen'yōsha not only supported the triads financially and with weapons, but also provided shelter in Japan to triad leaders exposed by the Qing government. The Gen'yōsha established a network of brothels in China and later Southeast Asia. This is not only used to skim off profits, but also to obtain information, extortion and bribery. In Sapporo , Hokkaidō even a training center was operated in which the prostitutes learned how to effectively obtain information.

Korea

Another sphere of interest was Korea. The Gen'yōsha organized a group of 15 men, called Ten'yūkyō ( 天佑 侠 ), who secretly prepared detailed topographical maps in advance of a future Japanese invasion of Korea. She supported the Donghak uprising , knowing full well that this could lead to a conflict between China and Japan, and was probably involved in the assassination of the Korean Queen Myeongseong at the behest of the authorized Japanese minister in Korea Miura Goro .

During the First Sino-Japanese War (1894/95), which arose from the Donghak uprising and served to separate Korea from the Chinese sphere of influence, and the Russo-Japanese War (1904/05), which also focused on influence over Korea turned, the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy considered the Gen'yōsha information network extremely valuable. It was also used to carry out acts of sabotage behind enemy lines.

Late years

After the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, the Gen'yōsha supported Pan-Asianism . Domestically, the organization founded the Dai-Nippon Seisantō party ( 大 日本 生産 党 , German "Great Japanese Production Party ") to combat the influence of socialism on the unions.

In its later years, the Gen'yōsha had strayed far from its origins as a secret society and was now almost a regular player in Japanese politics. Some cabinet ministers and members of parliament were well-known members, as well as Prime Minister Hirota Kōki or Seigō Nakano, who advocated the adoption of European-style fascism. The Gen'yōsha therefore had a significant influence on Japanese politics until the end of World War II.

After the defeat of Japan, the Gen'yōsha was dissolved by the US occupation authorities .

There is a tomb in the cemetery of the Sōfuku-ji temple in Fukuoka . A list of the members is given by Ishitaki (2010, pp. 20–66)

heritage

The Gen'yōsha was the forerunner of many other organizations that took over and developed their ideology, such as the Amur League ( Kokuryūkai ). It was also partly the basis for the ties between the far-right politicians and the yakuza in the political landscape of Japan after the Second World War.

Although the modern yakuza shares many political and social views with the Gen'yōsha and many members of the Gen'yōsha descended from the Yakuza, the Gen'yōsha was merely a political organization that also resorted to criminal means to achieve its goals, but itself was not part of the yakuza.

swell

  • Andrew Gordon: A Modern History of Japan. From Tokugawa Times to the Present . Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-19-511061-7 .
  • George Victor: The Pearl Harbor Myth, Rethinking the Unthinkable . Potomac Books, 2005, ISBN 1-59797-042-5 .
  • George Crowdey: The Enemy Within. A History of Espionage . Osprey Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-84176-933-9 .
  • Hugh Byas: Government by Assassination . Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1942 ( digitized in the Internet Archive ).
  • Ishitaki Toyomi: Genyōsha - Fūin sareta jitsuzō . Kaichōsha, Fukuoka 2010, ISBN 978-4-87415-787-9 . ( 石 瀧 豊 美 『洋 社 ・ 封印 さ れ た 実 像』 )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Crowdey: The Enemy Within . P. 215.
  2. ↑ Victor: The Pearl Harbor Myth, Rethinking the Unthinkable . P. 128.
  3. ↑ Crowdey: The Enemy Within . P. 217.
  4. ^ Gordon: A Modern History of Japan. From Tokugawa Times to the Present . P. 92.
  5. ^ Ian Ruxton: The Ending of Extraterritoriality in Japan . In: Bert Edström (Ed.): Turning Points in Japanese History . Routledge Shorton , 2002, ISBN 1-903350-05-0 , pp. 92 .
  6. ^ Hugh Byas: Government by Assassination . P. 180
  7. ↑ Harries: Soldiers of the Sun. The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army .
  8. ^ Hugh Byas: Government by Assassination . Pp. 184-185
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Tōyama is the family name, Mitsuru the first name.