Saitō Takao (politician)

Saitō Takao ( Japanese 斎 藤 隆夫 ; * September 13, 1870 ( Japanese calendar : Meiji 3/8/18) in Izushi-gun , Tajima Province (today: Toyooka , Hyōgo Prefecture ); † October 7, 1949 ), was a Japanese conservative politician of the early Shōwa period . Because of his criticism of the policies of the groups around Konoe Fumimaro and the military in China, he was expelled from the Japanese parliament in 1940.

Youth and education

Saitō Takao was born as the second son into a farming family in the district of Izushi ( Tajima Province , today: part of Toyooka ). First he began an apprenticeship with a pharmacist. He found a supporter employed by the Ministry of the Interior ( Naimu-shō ) who enabled him to study at Tōkyō Semmon Gakkō (forerunner of Waseda University ) from 1891 . He was one of 33 candidates (of 1,500 who took part) who passed the bar exam in 1895. Despite this success, he soon felt the need for further education, which is why he applied for admission to Yale University in 1901 . When he was there, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis , which even three operations could not cure. He then had to leave the USA in 1904.

He was married to Kitamura Otoko . in the 1930s he lived in Shinagawa-ku of Tokyo .

Political career

Saitō Takao

At the age of 43 he was elected to the Japanese lower house for the first time in 1912 as a member of the Kokumintō ("People's Party"). With the exception of the 1919-23 electoral period, he was re-elected regularly - a total of 13 times - until his death. Politically, in the style of the laissez-faire ideology prevailing in his youth , he was oriented towards social Darwinism .

At the International Parliamentary Conference in 1913 he was a delegate.

Since 1924, however, his supporters in Izushi were also strongly represented in the local youth groups. at that time he was in the Kenseitō ("Constitutional Party"). He campaigned for the long-contested universal suffrage, which for men (decided in 1925) increased the number of voters in 1928 from 3.3 to 12.5 million. From 1927 he was a member of the Rikken Minseitō . Throughout his life he remained an admirer of the Meiji Tennō , so after 1930 he was a conservative who represented the interests of the petty bourgeoisie and the rural population. He was one of the few MPs of his time who did not buy votes and did not allow himself to be financially supported by the wealthy in his district.

In the cabinet of Hamaguchi Osachi (1929-31) and again in the 2nd term of office of Wakatsuki Reijirō , he was parliamentary vice-minister for the interior. Nominally he was in the upper fifth court rank . Rather cautious in parliament, he gave a few important speeches, which also attracted attention because of their rhetorical brilliance. After the attempted coup ( Ni-Niroku Jiken ) in February 1936, he held the widely acclaimed Shukugun ni kansuru enzetsu ("On control of the military"). Because of this speech, he is often, inappropriately , referred to as anti-militarist ( hangun ). Saitō was in favor of a strong military, provided that it was under civilian control.

In 1938 he attacked the draft of the Kokka Sōdōin Hōan , which allowed the government to rule without parliament.

1940

In 1940 the fighting in China cost four million dollars a day, 1.5 million Japanese had been sent to the mainland, the troops had high losses, of which about 100,000 were killed to date.

In the late afternoon of February 2, 1940, Saitō gave a speech in which he demanded clarification from the government - beyond the well-known propaganda phrases - how it intended to solve the " China incident ". He attacked the resigned Konoe Fumimaro and his "Proclamations" (1938; Konoe seimei ), which were regarded as incontrovertible . He criticized Konoe, whom he regarded as inspired by the Nazis - and personally cowardly -, as well as the "reformist" ( kaikaku ) intellectuals standing behind him with their pan-Asian ideas regarding the "New Asiatic Order" ( Tō-A Shinchitsucho ). Although there were heckling during the speech, he was not warned by the Presidium. The prime minister and two other ministers replied - together no longer than 10 minutes - essentially repeating the criticized phrases. Neither the army nor the navy ministers seemed to object. After some time, however, there were sharp protests from the technocrats in the government-army liaison staff ( Rikugunshō no Seifu Iinshitsu ). When Saitō returned to the plenary hall around 8:00 p.m., he agreed that the Prasidium could remove any part of his speech from the official report; it was then the last two thirds. At the same time, censorship of reporting was ordered. However, since several hours had passed between the speech and the order, the speech was fully covered in Fukuoka nichinichi and several foreign newspapers. This was followed by a smear campaign by the “progressive” (i.e. fascist) forces against him, which weighed heavily on him personally. On March 7, 1940, for his criticism of Japan's holy war, he was declared forfeited by 296 votes to 7, with 144 abstentions.

From 1942

However, as a result of the events, his popular popularity had increased. In the 1942 election he was re-elected to the House of Commons with the largest majority he ever had.

As one of the few "clean" politicians, he was able to remain politically active in 1945, but was not a decisive figure, probably also because of his poor health and age. In a speech in the House of Commons on November 11, 1946, he asked about Konoe Fumimaro's responsibility for the war. He had joined the "progressive party" ( Shimpo-tō ), which was soon renamed Minshu-tō . For both of them he was the “chief advisor”.

In the cabinets of the conservative Yoshida Shigeru and the socialist Katayama Tetsu , he was Minister of State, initially as Minister without Portfolio , then from October 28, 1946 as Chairman of the Administrative Investigation Department . Therefore, Saitō's signature appears on the constitutional charter of 1947. When the Ashida Hitoshi cabinet was formed, to which he no longer belonged, he resigned from the Minshu-tō and went to the Democratic Liberal Party .

He died at the age of 80 in 1949, little noticed by the public.

Works, literature and sources

• Earl Kinmonth: The Mouse that Roared: Saito Takao, Conservative Critic of Japan's “Holy War” in China . Journal of Japanese Studies Vol. 25.2 (1999)
• Saitō Takao: Kaiko nanajū nen . Tokyo 1948, reprint: 1987 (autobiography)
• Daizō Kusayanagi: Saitō Takao . Tokyo 1981 (biography)

In Japanese also appeared parts of his diaries ( Saitō Takao nikki ), which were not burned in the bombing raids in 1945, collected speeches and essays (1961), and a commemorative volume ( Izushi , 1955). He also wrote some political works.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. Education of the time: Hermann Bohner : Japan (education) . in: Ev. pedagogical lexicon, Velhagen & Clasing, 1929, Sp. 1096ff
2. ↑ Kenneth Colegrove: Labor Parties in Japan . American Political Science Review (1929), pp. 329-63
3. ↑ Fischer World History: The Japanese Empire . Frankfurt 1968, p. 332
4. ↑ Japanese full text in: Kusayanagi Daizō (1981), pp. 288–309
5. ^ Archives
6. ↑ Scan: deleted text
7. ^ The 45th Prime Minister, The First Yoshida Cabinet. National Parliamentary Library , accessed September 27, 2008 . 

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Saitō is the family name, Takao the first name.

Web links

• Short biography of the NDL (with picture)
• Newspaper article about Saitō Takao in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .