Yokoyama Gennosuke

Yokoyama Gennosuke

Yokoyama Gennosuke ( Japanese 横山 源 之 助 ; born April 10, 1871 in Toyama Prefecture ; died June 3, 1915 ) was a Japanese social researcher during the Meiji– and early Taishō period .

life and work

Yokoyama Gennosuke studied law at the "Igirisu hōritsu gakkō" (イ ギ リ ス 法律 学校), later Chūō University , and began in 1894 to work for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper . Under the influence of people like the president of the newspaper, Shimada Saburō (1852-1923) or the writer Futabatei Shimei , he began to be interested in social issues. From 1896 he carried out investigations in various parts of Japan into the living conditions of farm workers, factory workers and the unemployed. The results appear in 1898 under the title "Nihon no kasō shakai" (日本 の 下層 社会), "The lower class society of Japan". This was the first comprehensive account of poverty and working conditions in Japan and, despite some weaknesses, remains an important source at the time to this day.

Yokoyama continued to write about social and workforce problems during the late Meiji period and became a model for later researchers.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Yokoyama Gennosuke . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X
• Hunter, Janet: Yokoyama Gennosuke . In: Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Kodansha International, 1984. ISBN 4-7700-1193-8 .

Web links

Commons : Yokoyama Gennosuke  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

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