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J A PA N S R EV OL U T IO N A RY S T U D E N T S

e d i t e d by S t u a r t o w s e y


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ZENGAKUREN:Japan's Revolutionary Students

edited by

Stuart J. Dowsey

THE ISHI PRESS

Berkeley, California


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Published by The Ishi Press, .

Box 1021, Berkeley 1, California, 94701, U.S.A.

Tokyo Office: The Ishi Press,

CPO Box 2126, Tokyo, Japan.

Sole Distributor in Japan: JCinokuniya Bookstore Co,, Ltd.826 Tsunohazu 1-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-91

Copyright 1970, by The Ishi Press

All rights reserved

First Impression May 1970

Printed in Japan

by Sokosha Printing Co., Ltd.


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CONTENTS

Preface iv

Abb reviations and Organizations vi Introduction 1 Chap ter 1: Historical Back ground

by Ikeda Ka zuo 9Chap ter 2: Origins of Zeng akuren

by M atsunam i M ichihiro 42 Cha pter 3: Th e An ti-Amp o Struggle

by H arada Hisato 75Cha pter 4: Th e University Problem

by K ok ub un Yu taka 100Ch apte r 5: The University Struggles

by Saw ara Yu kiko 136Chapter 6: Kak um aru Portrait of an Ultra-Radical G rou p

by Nak anishi M asahiro 193Ch apter 7: The Fu ture . . ? 226 Who's Who in Zengakuren and the Youth Movement in 1969

A Profile by M atsun am i M ichihiro 242Bibliography 268


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P R E F A C E

There are literally hundreds of books that have been writtenin English about the unique society and culture of Japaj^. Almostall of them deal with the traditiona l culture, while books on modern Jap an are few and fa r between. However, with Jap an 's 4emergence on the inte rnationa l scene as an econom ic giant, it is no longer possible or indeed desirable tha t the post-war Jap anese culture should continue to be thus neglected. This book intends to fill the gap that hitherto existed regarding the Japanese stude ntmovement. Until now, there has been no book which covers theentire history of Zengakuren and describes the various sects.While not a scholarly work, great pains haye been taken to *ensure the factual accuracy of the contents of this book in the

hope tha t the reader can arrive at a good understanding of the IJapanese student movem ent. |Eaeh chapter has been written by a student of Waseda Uni- $

versity. The co-autho rs are also all mem bers of the W aseda iEnglish Speaking Society and belong to the district group knownas the Shinjuku Home Meeting. The ma in work done in research- ing the material of this book was carried out in the latter half of1969 during which time the students were in their 2nd year of

studies (except Miss Sawara who was in her 1st year). Theyrepresent a wide variety of backgrounds and are studying indifferent fields. M r. Ike da Kazuo and M r. Nakanishi M asah iroare both 20 years old and study Commerce; Mr. MatsunamiMichihiro is also 20 and is in the Science and Technology Depart-ment; Mr. Harada Hisato is 20 and in the Law Department;Mr. Kokubun Yutaka is 22 years old and studies Economics

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while Miss Sawara Yukiko is 20 and belongs to the School ofEducation.

The main task of translating the material from Japanese intoEnglish was conducted in part by the students themselves withthe remainder being done by myself, the editor. Therefore anylapses in clarity or in the stylistic presentation of the text isentirely my own responsibility. I have endeavored as mueh aspossible to stick to the original meanings intended by the co-authors, and should my interpretations prove erroneous, thenthe blame must be laid at my doo r. As editor, I have also writtenthe Introduction and Chapter 7, though in the latter ease I havemade use of much material gathered by the authors, whieh wasnot included in thfe earlier chapters.

In presenting this account of Zengakuren, it is has beennecessary to put forward the left-wing theories and opinionsinvolved, and in order to reach an understanding of the studentmovement, I have been sympathetic toward their ideals. How-

ever, in writing and editing this book, I have endeavored to givean objective viewpoint and trust that this has been achieved.Finally I would like to acknowledge the assistance rendered

by Mr. Frederick Lorenzino in checking the readability of themanuscript and of course to my wife Kiyoko, whose help andsympathy made this book a reality.

Tokyo, May, 1970

Stuart J. Dowsey


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List of Abbreviations and Organizations

Japanese names appear in the text in the Japanese order,surnames first. The macron over long vowels has been omittedthroughout by the editor's preference.AbbreviationsAIPC Armed Insurrection Preparatory Com mittee (Puro

Gufldan Faction)ANZUS Australia-New Zealand-U .S. Security TreatyD S P De m ocratic Socialist Party (M inshu Shakai To )JC P Japan Com munist Party (Nihon Kyosan To)L D P Liberal De m ocratic Party (Jiyu M inshu To)M L M arx-Leninist FactionSCAP Supreme Com ma nder for the Allied Pow ersSFL Student Liberation Fr on t (Gaku sei Ka iho Sensen)

OrganizationsAkahata Red Flag (JCP newspaper)AmpoJapan-U.S. Security TreatyBeheirenCitizens Alliance fo r 'Peace in V ietna m 'Bundsee KyosandoChukaku Central Core Faction of the Revolutionary Com mu nist

League.Dai Yon Inta Fourth International Japan BranchFuronto Socialist Student FrontGakusei Inta Student InternationalGakusei RengoStudent FederationHantei Gakuhyo Anti-imperialist Student CouncilHansen Gakudo Anti-war Student LeagueHansen Seinen Iinkai Anti-war Youth Committees

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Heimin Gakkyo Tokyo Student Joint Struggle CommitteeAgainst A m po a nd for the Protection of Peace and Dem ocracy

Heimin Gakuren National Student Liaison Committee AgainstAmpo and for the Protection of Democracy

Jichikai Student Self-governing AssociationsKakumaru Revolutionary Marxist Faction of the Revolu-

tionary Communist LeagueKakukyodo Japan Revolutionary Communist LeagueKomeitoClean Government PartyKyogakudoCommunist Student LeagueKyosandoCommunist League (Bund)Marugakudo Marxist Student LeagueMinseidoDemocratic Youth LeagueMlnsei To Democratic Government Party (from Constitution

Party)Purogakudo Proletarian Student LeagueSampa Rengo Three Faction Alliance

Sampa Zengakuren Three Faction ZengakurenSanbetsu Congress of Industrial UnionsSeiyukaiGovernment AssociationSekigunRed Army Faction of the Socialist Student LeagueShagakudo Socialist Student LeagueShinjinkai Enlightened Man AssociationShaseidoSocialist Youth LeagueShaseido Kaiho-ha Liberation Faction of the Socialist Student

LeagueShingakudo New Student LeagueSodomeiGeneral Federation of LaborSohyoGeneral Council of Trade UnionsSoka Gakkai Modern Organization of the Nichiren Buddhist

ChurchTogakuren Tokyo Branch of Zengakuren

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Tojiren Tokyo Liaison Council of Student Self-governingAssociations

Tokyo CbahyoTokyo Chapter of SohyoZengakuren National Federation of Student Self-governing

AssociationsZenjiren National Liaison Council of Student Self-governing

AssociationsZenkoku Zenkyoto National Zenkyoto FederationZenkyotoAll-campus Joint Struggle CouncilsZemoN ational Liaison Council of Tra de Union s


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INTRODUCTION

The streets of the Ginza, Japan's sparkling showcase for theworld, are a shambles. Acrid fumes of tear gas hang in the air,shop s are shu ttered and th e busy traffic is halted; The time isAp ril 28, 1969, an d in Jap an it is Okinaw a D ay . T ok yo is anarmed camp; police are guarding all the government buildings,downtown railway stations are closed, department store windowsare bo arde d up and office wo rkers have been sent hom e half aday early. Unable to get near the Diet House, the seat of Japan'sgovernment, the revolutionary students of Zengakuren haveturned on the Ginza to vent their spleen and created a no-man's-land in the middle of the soaring buildings.

Under the ever-whirling flickering neon signs, the battle linesare d raw n; the armies are poised and ready. The riot police in darkblue uniforms hold the intersections; they crouch in a linebehind duralumin shields, dull lights glinting from their ominousblue steel helmets, plastic visors clamped down, batons and teargas guns at the ready. Inside the police lines, from Ginza to Tokyostation nearly a mile away the students hold sway; in the road afire burns sending oily smoke into the night air, billboards andiron sheets barricade the street, broken paving stones and spenttear gas cartridges lie in the gutter and through the mess an

eddying mob of students swhirling chanting running shouting.Underneath the ground the subway trains are still running butthey do not stop at Ginza Station. On the elevated expresswayabove is the audience, thousands of bystanders craning to get abetter view. From lip here it is safer, no flying rocks, no chanceto be hit by a police baton, or liosed down by water cannon.Here no cars are passing, the way is blocked by television vans,

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which monitor the shots from the street below. The unearthlyscene of the whirling dervish students, faces half-hidden undertheir brightly colored hand-painted helmets, mouths masked byflannel towels tucked into the straps, their wild eyes shiningthrough tousled hair. The ponderous police van, a great grayelephant on wheels, inching forw ard, surro und ed by its co ho rts;the crack of the tear gas guns, the flash of flame as a molotovcocktail shatters on the roa d; The television picture jum ps as thecameraman follows the crowd, trying to catch the action for thewatchers at home safe in the comfort of their living rooms. Thescene changes; fresh new student forces appear, brave troopsbearing a forest of wooden staves to sweep down on the policelines; a student doubles up, his face twisted with paia, trying toavoid a kicking boot, his helmet rolling shattered by his side andfinally the inevitable pathetic line of the captured being led intoa waiting truck.

These scenes are but the latest in a continuing series which are

carried to every bousehold in Japan and then all over the world.The action is dramatic; it makes good television but the issuesare obscure and are unimportant to the average viewer. Some-thing is happ ening b ut we do n't kno w w hat, the signs and slogansare unreadab le and it all remains incomprehensible. How ever outof this one name emerges, the name which symbolizes the studentrevolution in Japan to the worldZengakuren.

What is Zengakuren ? What are its aims and how important is

it in Japan? Who are its members? How did it start and where isit going? These are some of the unanswered questions that areposed by the existence of Zengakuren. Questions that were askedbefore in 1960, whetl Zen gak uren burst on the world scene du ringthe political struggles directed against the Japan-U.S. Securi-ty Treaty and which will be asked again in 1970 when the Se-curity Treaty comes up for renewal. In 1960, the students were


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chiefly responsible fo r the resign ation of" the Japa nese PrimeM inister an d the cancellation of a visit to Ja pan by th e A mericanPresident. More recently they have succeeded in shutting downnearly every university in Japan in revolt against the antiquatedmethods in use, producing a paralysis in the education systemand a cathartic shock to the Japanese establishment. Any organi-zation th at is able to wield such power should be un derstood andno t neglected when tiding to grasp the situation of m odern Jap an.

One common mistake is to regard Zengakuren as a cohesive

group with its aims dictated by international communism whenin fact nothing could be further from the truth. Zengakuren isvast range of leftwing student factions, each with its own philo-sophy and character, but they all have one thing in common andthat is to see a revolution in Japan. However, bitterness amongstrival groups is great and frequently degenerates into violenceoften exceeding in degree th at directed at the police. Th oug hZengakuren was once directed by the Japan Communist Party

(JCP), most of the sects are now in opposition to it. SimilarlyZengakuren has little in common with the Japan Socialist Party,which represents to the students the Old Japanese Left, while theythemselves are the N ew Le ft.

The history of the student struggle in Japan in both the politicaland educational arenas goes back many years to the period justfollowing the war; while the history of student participation in theleft-wing movement goes back even further, to the beginnings of

Marxism in Japan. In the last few years, the world has seen theemergence of highly vocal student movements in nearly everycorner of the globe and in Japan it is the Zengakuren who havemanaged to articulate the universal feelings of youth best of all.It-is an ironic comment on Japanese society that in the era whichhas prov ided its peo ple with the greatest affluence in their h istory,when Japan's gross national product is the third largest in the


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world, the priviledged youth of the nation's universities choose toturn their backs on the established way with its guaranteed pros-perity and respectability and take their chances in violent battleswith the police. We can find much the same thing throughout theworld, but whereas students in the developing nations have someclear idea of what they are struggling against, it is those in theadvanced nations like Japan whose fight, less easily explicable,takes on the appearance of a blind attack at all the establishedvalues of the society that brought them up. One opinion putforward by a leading news magazine is that the advanced nationsare in a period of chaotic change a gear-wrenching m om entin history in which no one can possibly know for certain what liesahead.

Science and technology have created a new situation; it willtake some time for the social structure to accomodate the newway of life. The youth of today are the first true citizens of thenew world of electronic comm unica tions; they have been exposed

to the full impact of a world community united under televisionfrom childhood and are the only ones of us who have completelyadjusted to the life style it represents. The world has become anelectronic anthill with the human race close to being linked upinto a universal consciousness and it is the present generation ofyouth who instinctively sense its implications and feel that somenew means of arranging and ordering human affairs is not onlynecessary but inevitable. The natural idealism of the young can

now find support in similar sentiments and actions by othersnot in only one country but all over the world. Universal educa-tion has widened the range of those who feel they know morethan their paren ts and are dema nding their right to be hea rdan d to particip ate, bu t the reins of pow er rem ain firmly held bythe pa rental g eneration w ho have no intention of giving them up .Given these conditions, it was inevitable that given time, today's

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youth would organize itself politically and that a confrontationwith authority would result.

If the origins of the student mo vem ent in the advanced countriesare similar for the reasons that we have given, the focus of eachstruggle invariably centers around problems that are speeial toeaeh country and culture. The American student movement hasfound a great catalyst in the continuing Vietnam War, while inFrance student protest against an outmoded university systemneatly coincided with popular sentiment against the traditionalistregime of Charles de Gaulle and in Northern Ireland studentsare leaders in the Catholic civil rights struggles. In Japan too,the conditions that bred the Zengakuren movement are peculiarto that country; the disillusionment of losing the war, the ideal-ism freed by the defeat of the militarists and ready to be turned tomore humanitarian goals, the humiliation of occupation andthe presence of foreign troops to this day, Japan's abhorrenceof war and of nuclear weapons; all these factors and many

others have helped shape the lives of Japan's revolutionaryyouth.To understand the Japanese student movement we will ex-

amine the origins of the present educational system; we willlook into the present-day political make-up and trace the historyof Zen gaku ren fro m its beginnings in the dark days after the w ar.

The studen t movem ent is inextricably bou nd u p in two separatefields of student strugglepolities and education. The first

crystallizes around the nationwide movement against the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty; and though the students are ready to joinwith other anti-Security Treaty forces, they tend to take a moreextremist view as compared with the other groups. They favordirect actions such as invading A me rican bases, hinde ring const-ruction of Am erican facilities and attem pting to block actions ofJapanese government politicians. Theoretically, Japan is a rniilti-


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party country, but the government is firmly under the control ofthe powerful Liberal Democrats making it virtually a one-party

state with the left-wing cast as a permanent opposition. Thestudents resort to extremist activities because they lack the basisfor real political power and in doing so they can at least feelthey are fighting for their ideals. As is well known, the violencegenerated by student struggles always attracts more attentionthan m ore p eaceful m ethods, but at the same time the reasons areusually ignored. The failure of the established left-wing to makeany headway at the polls has contributed to a general mistrustamong students for their policies if not their ideals. Since itsfirst inception, the Japanese left-wing has argued over whetherto plan an one-step or a two-step revolution and this is mirroredin the basic spht that exists between the different factions inZengakuren. About the only thing that all Zengakuren studentswill agree on is that Japan needs a revolution; but beyond thisno two groups are of the same mind.

The Japanes e educational system is a pa tch work quilt of policiestaken from French, German and American sources and is indire heed of an overhaul if it is to be relevant to modem Japan.The present universities are extremely overcrowded creatingpressures their originators could never have foreseen and whichserve to dramatically show up the inadequacies. The students'basic desire to be allowed to p articip ate in the ru nn ing of theuniversity is a logical extension of the doctrine of democrati-

zation that was imposed on Japan by the American occupationforces after the war. Real control however still rests in the handsof the Ministry of Education and this brings the students intoconflict with the government yet again, when they resort totactics such as the university strike and the blockading of uni-versity buildings to achieve their demands.

The use of the name Zengakuren has become meaningless as

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it is used freely by a wide variety of student groups. Originally anon-political movement, Zengakuren developed under the

control of the Japan Communist Party to the point where itsplit into rival factions. The history of the Japanese studentmovement, therefore, has to show how these rival groups relateto each other, giving their membership, size, ideological attitudes,alignments and relative importance. At the same time, thestudent radical has become the most distinctive indigenouscultural figure to mark the post war era. The street fighting hasproduced an image of the helmeted stick-wielding student;theoretizing has spawned new words for the Japanese voc abu lary;comics, songs, magazines and television are concerned withwhat they do, the advertising industry capitalizing on this image.

To get a better idea of the life of the Japanese student revolu-tionary it was decided to presen t a com prehensive p ortr ait ofone of the ma jor factions. W e chose the Revolutionary M arxistsKakumaruand in describing this group will try to examinethe culture of the student movement in depth. The Kakumaruitself is perhaps the most independent of all the factions, beingmore concerned with dialectic than the others but in spite ofthis it too advocates violence in pursuit of its ideal and as suchis quite representative.

Finally some thought has been given to the future. Of coursethe summer of 1970 is sure to see renewed activity against theJapan-U.S. security treaty which is due for renewal but after

that the student movement is sure to be around for a long timeyet. We can try and predict what the future would be like if astudent revolt ever materialized. Ideas on how to make themovement succced and the opposing viewpoint of how to stopit are also aired.

In this short book, an attempt has been made to sort out themain facts about what is an exceedingly complicated situation

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and to present for the reader an accou nt of the m ost continuouslyactive student movement in the world. If in doing so, this helps

to clear up misunderstandings and confusion as to what Zen-gakuren is and helps give a better insight into what is happeningin Ja pan today , then this boo k will have fulfilled its pu rpos e.

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ence to the grou p were developed. Th is was extended t o en-compass the whole nation during the modern era and the mili-tarists of the pre-war era were able to base their ascendancy oncareful manipulation of these characteristics. During the presentday, the emphasis has been switched to the economic field and,under skilful management, Japan has become an industrial giantwith the third largest gross national product in the world.

In such a group-oriented society, there exists tremendousrivalry between groups and factionalism within each group.Success or failure is highly dependent on the quality of leader-ship. It is quite feasible for a small group of men to take controlof a larger body just by supplanting the old leaders. The MeijiGovernment was in the hands of just 100 men; the militaristclique which led Japan into the Pacific War was also a smallselect group, but both of these controlled the fate of everyJapanese. It is in this sense that we should regard the Japanesestudent's vision of a Socialist revolution as something more than

a pipe-dream and realize how important it is to have some know-ledge and understanding of the various factions of the studentfrevolutionaries now vying for power.

The feudal period survived right up to the nineteenth centurywhen Japan was rudely awakened by the military might of theWestern nations. This led to a complete change in leadership;the last shogunate of the Tokugawa family gave way to therestoration of the Emperor in 1867. This period is referred to as

Meiji, after the Em pero r. The new leaders had originally opposedthe shogunate's policies of admitting foreigners, but later realizedtha t the m ore sensible cou rse would be to learn f ro m theWest and thereby make Japan as powerful as any Westerncoun try. This was d one by sending Jap anese to foreigncountries to study different aspects of each. The most importantsubjects were military (army and n avy) and government

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(communications, transportation, education, agriculture, etc),but some importance was placed on industrial development also.Students were chosen to study the best examples of their fieldsat that time; for example the German Army provided the formatfor the fledgeling Japanese Imp erial Arm y, while Britain providedthe plan for the Navy. Sometimes, however, it became necessaryto change countries in mid-stream as some other had shown itssystem to be better and on other occasions two or more nationalsystems were studied and then integra ted. This has led to the

situation where modem institutions are the product of a hodge-podg e of different systems fro m m any countries and are ex-tremely difficult to operate, being hardly ap pro pria te to theconditions of the new Japan.

We are mainly concerned in this book with two of these sys-tems: education and parliamentary government. In the case ofeducation, Western influences were felt right from the start ofthe Meiji Restoration, but in the case of parliamentary govern-

m ent, tho ug h, this w as established as early on as 1890; it wasnot until the 1920s that the western influences of Socialism andCommunism were felt. In the former case, educational policieswere the result of studies instigated by the national leadership,but in the lattercase, Socialist and Communist politics werenever approved of by the leaders and had to be spread on a muchlower level than other foreign influences. All the same, both ofthese have come to be integral parts of modern Japanese societyand are two of the main factors shaping the lives of the youngJapanese students, especially those who make up the ranks ofthe revolutionaries.

The Early PeriodAll of modern Japanese history has its origins somewhere

in the feud al period. Politics at tha t time centered aro un d a ruling

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family, either imperial or aristocratic. The existence of a largenumber of aristocratic families, with their own ranks of retainersand warriors, led to great rivalry and frequently to war to decidewho shou ld in fac t ,rule. How ever, these internecine conflicts didnot usually involve the main population. Finally, the Tokugawafamily was able to suppress all opposition and by instituting strictfeudal controls imposed the rule of their shogunate for 265 yearsright up to th e onset of the mo dern period . Du ring this period, themain characteristics of modern Japanese society were formulated

and the Japanese people were bound together as an ethnic unitcloser than ever before.Ed ucation , at this time, was considered necessary fo r the train-

ing of the aristocracy and th e priesthood. M ost of the teaching wasdone by "priests and so the emphasis was on Buddhist philosophy.Under the tight control of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan wasalmost completely isolated from the outside world and the in-flexible rule by regional lords (daimyo) produced a change in

ethics. Confucianism, which placed emphasis on complete loyal-ty, obedience to one's master and the acceptance of traditionalautho rity, came to d om inate the schooling system. It was becausethese Confucian ideals had become so woven into Japanesesociety that the feudal era was able to last so long. Feudalism inJapan was almost identical to that of medieval Europe but withone important difference; in Europe the relation between lordand vassal was in the form of a sort of contract with a two-way

system of m utu al .responsibilities, b ut i/i Jap an all the respo nsi-bility was on the part of the subordinate to his superior, a one-way system which still exists in modified form.

However, though the Shogun held the real power, the emperorwas still nominally head of Japan and when a movement built upto overthrow the shogunate it was to restore imperial rule. Theleaders of the imperial restoration movement had confidently ex-


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pected to manipulate the Emperor Meiji as a figurehead of theirgovernment, but he was a man of great character and in due

course asserted himself so that Japan, at the onset of the modernera* was under the central rule of a supreme Emperor. The resto-ration government destroyed the power and status of the warriorclasses and m anag ed to orientate the people of Japa n to allegianceto the Emperor. The new government was, in fact, an oligarchymade up of a fewer than one hundred young men who wereacting in the name of the Emperor.

In ov erthrowing the Tokug aw a sh oguna te, one of the issues had

been a desire to prevent an influx of foreign ideas but with theend of years of isolation, the new leaders were faced with thetask of creating an independent nation that could stand alone inthe world and so they turned to the West to find the answers totheir problems. It was realized at once that the old system oftemple schools was completely inadequate and that a new edu-cational system was needed. Yo ung m en from all over Jap an weresent abr oad to study. First of all, the governm ent set up a M inistryof Education in 1871 and in the following year a neW educationalsystem was set up. Education, as originally provided, was to be ona universal compulsory 4-year basis; the country was divided upinto 8 collegiate districts, after the French model, each of thesewas made up of 32 high school districts, with each being dividedinto 210 elementary school districts. Thus it was, that moderneducation came to Japan, not as the result of universal suffrage,but as part of a mo dernization policy of the nation al governmen t.From the start, the Japanese government has had a voice ineduca tional affairs, a situation which has had m any ram ifica-tions.

As a model for its new school system Japan looked to theUnited States. This was natural as Japan's aim was universaleducation and at that time the United States had achieved the

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greatest success in this respect. Many educators were broughtto Japan to advise and train teachers for the new system and so

it was that Japan, although an authoritarian country, originallyhad progressive ed ucational m ethods and techniques, such asthe Pestalozzi method, which was in vogue at the time, and whichemphasized learning through sense experience in contrast torote memorization.

However, this era of progressive education was short-lived.Towards the end of the 1870s, the influence of the Confucianistsrose again and they demanded a return to the Confucian base ofeducation. They were instrumental in promulgating a series ofeducational ordinances which introduced a compulsory courseon morals, stressing the traditional ethical ideals of loyalty andfilial piety, together with military drill into the curriculum. Thegoal of education w as now d efined; education was fo r the benefitof the state, no t fo r the benefit of the stude nt. Stated anothe r way,educa tion was to teach the student wh at to think , no t how to think .

A textbook authorization system was established and teacherscould only use textbooks approved of by the Minister of Edu-cation. In 1904, it was learned that publishers had been bribingmembers of the prefectural textbook examining committees andso after this the Ministry itself took over publication of all schooltexts, compiling a systematic series for all subjects taught in theeducational system. In this way, the gove rnm ent w as able toexercise direct control over what was being taught.

In 1889, the Imperial Constitution was decreed and this con-firmed the Emperor as the absolute ruler of Japan. In the follow-ing year, the Imperial Edict on Education appeared providing aphiloso phica l basis for the na tion al edu cation al system. It castthe Emperor as a god and demanded absolute loyalty from hissubjects. Patriotism, respect for the Constitution, observation ofthe law and willingness to die for Japan were all included in the

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educational emphasis. As a result of these promulgations, edu-cation in Japan took on a decidedly ultranationalistic tone and

became increasingly more militaristic. Hence, the basis was laidfor 'tho ugh t c on trol' an d fascism which were later to emerge.

As we have said before, the Meiji government rested in th eha nd sof a small but powerful oligarchy, however, in order to retaintheir power, it was necessary to widen their popular support andthis was done by introducing several Western institutions ofgovernment. There was the creation of a parliament called theNational Diet, a Constitution, government ministries for eachadministrative field and a prefectural system of local governmentwhich kept con trol firmly in the han ds of To kyo . But, whereas theparliamentary system in other countries was the result of populardemand and pressure, once again the Japanese Constitution andthe Diet were the gift of the ruling oligarchy to the people. Therewas no need to make any concessions to the people and thesethings were made available because members of the ruling grouphad reached the conclusion that a constitution and some form ofparliamentary government were essential components of a strongWestern state.

The task of drafting a constitution was put in the hands of aman named Ito who travelled Europe studying the politicalinstitutions of the leading powers. He modelled the ImperialConstitution after the German model but included a very im-portant innovation, that being a bi-cameral Diet. There was to be

a House of Peers and a House of Representatives. The latter wasto be elected by males over 25 who paid an annual tax of fifteenyen or more. This meant an initial electorate of 460,000, slightlymore than 1% of the population. The original political partieswere created in 1881; the Liberal Party (Jiyuto), Reform Party(Kaishinto) and Imperial Party (Teiseito), However, these partiesmerely reflected the interests of factions within the gr ou p of ruling

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oligarchs. In 1890, the first elections were held and though theworkings of government had moved from the closed committee

room to the floor of the Diet, it was still not possible to say thatJapan had become a democracy in the Western sense, and infact, it still maintained all the traditions of a paternalistic au-thoritarian state.

The same period up to 1890 also saw the establishment of thefirst universities and the beginnings of higher education. In mostcountries, it is the private university which traditionally enjoystb e greatest prestige, bu t in Ja pa n a differen t state of affairs

exists. Japan has three categories of universitynational, publicand private. The national universities were established andfinanced directly by the government and for this reason were moreprestigious. However, the first university to be established wasactually a priva te on e, K eio Un iversity, which was started in 1858,some ten years before the Meiji Resto ration. Following this, upto 1890, of the 9 universities fou nd ed , 8 were priva te and altho ug h they did not enjoy the approval of the government, they wereable to build up good reputations, supplying services that thenational universities were unable to provide, by making higher ed-ucation more accessible and by stressing individual development.

The first national university was formed in 1877, when TokyoUniversity was created by joining two schools (Kaisei Ga kk o andTokyo Medical College) together to become the most importantscat of learning in the land. It consisted of four departments;Law , Science, Litera ture and M edicine. Initially, there was astudent enrollment of 1,750 and a faculty of 91, including 35foreigners. When the Imperial University Edict (Teikokii Dai-gaku Rei) was set forth in 1886, Tokyo University changed itsname to Tokyo Imperial University. At first Tokyo had beenmodelled after the amalgamated college in the United Statesbut after the Imperial University Edict, it was completely re-

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organized after the pattern of the German universities, wherethe professors both taught and conducted research. According

to the Imperial Edict, the purpose of the university was toprovide instruction in the arts and sciences required by the stateas well as to conduct original research in these fields. Hence theuniversities, and in particular Tokyo Imperial University, becamethe learning organization s of the state, training the leaders a ndofficials of gov ernm ent.

In 1897, another imperial university was established at Kyoto.Two more quickly followed in Kyushu and Hokkaido in 1903.

Tohoku Imperial University was set up in 1909 and then in1931, one each in Osaka and Nagoya. Apart from Keio, thefirst private universities were Senshu (founded in 1880), Waseda(1882), Meiji (1881), Nihon ,(1889) and Hosei (1889). In additionto these, ther e were the private un iversities established by Christianmissionary groups. These schools were founded so as to pro^selytize religious beliefs, bu t as they were staffed by many foreignteachers, they were able to provide excellent instruction inEnglish, economics and political science. Among these uni-versities were Rikkyo (Episcopalian, 1871), Aoyama Gakuin(1883) and Jochi or Sophia University (Roman Catholic, 1913).

During the period following the war with Russia in 1904through to the First World War, Japanese industry developedand expanded. The industrial field consequently required a largenumber of people who had received a higher education. Thegovernment was quick to respond and passed a new UniversityEdict in 1918 which recognized private as well as public univer-sities. Throu gh this law, single dep artm ent schoo ls wereexpanded into multiple department institutions and referred toas Government Universities. It was at this time that the imperialuniversities were first required to have graduate departments.The purpose of the university was further defined by this law as

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tbe teaching of theory and practices required by the state, theinvestigation of basic knowledge and the cultivation of the

spirit of nationalism. Before tbe passing of this law, there wereonly a few imperial universities and thus only a small percentagewere able to obtain a first class higher edueation. However, withthe University Edict of 1918, the character of the universitychanged and the number of people receiving a higher educationgreatly increased (see Chart). Already by this time, the Japaneseuniversity students had become an elite group, occupying a specialposition in society, which led to them taking an active role in

the community at a very early age.Chart

Government-recognized universities

National Public Private Number ofStudents

1890 1 1,3121900 2 3,2401910 3 7,2391920 6 2 8 21,9151930 17 5 24 69,6051940 19 2 26 81,999

When the Meiji government established universities in Japanit aimed at the cultivation of nationalism and naturally did notreadily admit to university independence and autonomy. Thegovernment chose to control the university and restrict it to itsown needs. However, as Japanese intellectuals came into contactwith foreig n ideologies an d studied at fo reign universities, theybegan to reflect on what the true nature of the university shouldbe and became aware of the concepts of university autonomyand academic freedom. In spite of the Government's negative

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attitude, two incidents occurred which were to lay the founda-tions for the continuing struggle for university autonomy.

In 1904, Japan was about to declare war with Russia when aprofessor of Law at Tokyo Imperial University, Tomizu Hiroto,criticized the government's policy towards Russia which heclaimed had been unimaginative up to then. He was urging thata more agressive stand be taken and to this end he started apolitical movement. The government was quite unprepared toaccept this type of criticism and so, acting through the office ofthe Minister of Education, Kuboto Yuzuru, took the step of

having Professor Tomizu fired from the university. Althoughsuch action had always been possible on the part of the Ministry,this act caused great concern amongst the professors at Tokyo,and the p resident, Ya ma gaw a Ke njiro, resigned tak ing responsi-bility for the affair. The professors in the Law Departmentprotested strongly saying that the government should haveconsulted with the university first hefore taking such action.Because of their demands, the Minister of Education resignedand Tomizu and Yamagawa were allowed to resume their posts.This incident set a precedent and though not recognized legally,action such as the dismissal of faculty members was never againtaken by the governm ent (until the war) w ithout prior consulationwith the faculty. So for the first time, public attention was drawnto the question of university autonomy.

The other key incident took place in 1914. The president of

Kyoto Imperial University, Sawayanagi Seitaro, was well knownfor his ideas on eliminating the stagnating character of theuniversity. He was well informed about foreign conditions andwas keen on innovations. For instance, although women wererarely allowed to enter institutions of higher learning in Japanat that time, Sawayanagi w as responsible fo r letting w omen enterToboku Imperial University. However, he aroused opposition on

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account of his dictatorial methods. The incident in questionoccurred when he tried to dismiss 7 professors who he claimed

were lazy. Th e other p rofessors protested his high-handedn ess,asserting that the president of a university ought to consultwith his faculty before taking any stich action, and the protestforced Sawayanagi's resignation. It is interesting to note that thenext president at Kyoto, Araki Torasaburo, Was elected by thevoting of the faculty for the first time and that with this assertionof power on the part of the faculty, this method of selecting apresident eventually spread to Tokyo Imperial University as well

as other universities.These two incidents established precedents for the preservation

of university autonomy, established the rights of the universityin its dealings with the government and for the faculty withregard to the university executive. It is important to note thatthese guidelines had no basis in law and that the government inparticu lar would freque ntly try to igno re them , so that the *question of university autonomy appears again and again andhas never been satisfactorily resolved. When the student move-ment got started in the modern period, it too looked to theseprecedents to find examples upon; which to base its claims forrepresentation in the university administration.

The Pre-war PeriodWith the onset of the 1920's, the political picture in Japan was

radically altered by the influx of foreign ideologies, especiallySocialism and Com m unism . H owever, the m ain political powerremained in essentially the same hands as it always had and wouldthroughout Japan's history. Originally this power had beenrepresented by the groups behind the Liberal Party and theReform Party, but in time these parties changed their names andgradually drew closer. First, the Re form P arty became the Pro-

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gressive Party, and then in 1898 they joined the Liberal Party toform the Constitution Party (Kenseito). Factionalism quicklycaused the new party to split into two rival Constitution Partieswhich in turn became the Government Association (Seiyukai)in 1900 and the People's Party (Kokuminto) in 1910. The People'sParty itself subdivided into two groups which evolved into theReform Club (Kakushin Kurabu, 1923) and the ConstitutionAsso ciation (K enseika i, 1916). In 1927, the Co nstitu tion As-sociation joined with a splinter group from the GovernmentAssociation to form the Democratic Constitution Party andthis once more broke up in 1932 into two parts, one of whichcalled itself the National Federatiou (Kokumindomei) while theother kept the old name of the Democratic Constitution Party.All this jockeying for power amongst the governmental factionsgave rise to the three main parties which existed before the warand which survived until they were broken up by the militaristsin 1940. The way in which these groups continued splitting up

and reforming is very Japanese and finds an interesting parallelin the modern student movement. At first, it was the purposeof the ruling oligarchy to use parliam entary governm ent as ameans of consolidating their power; later the new industrialand economic combines carried on this practice. The govern-ments that were formed did not last long and the prewarperiod saw the rotation of the prem iership arou nd m embers of aselect group.

Outside of this clique, in which the real political power wasresolved, there were not many other political organizations butwith the successful completion of the Russian Revolution it wasnot long before Socialist and Communist theories began tomake an impression on the intellectuals of Japan. The 1920'ssaw the emergence of the first student organizations which wentbeyond being simple university clubs and were centered around

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the study of social science. This subject was not included in the

curricula at that time and as time passed the interpretations of^ society m ad e by these organization s to ok on a distinctly Marxisttone. There had also been several popular social movements inJapan such as the Rice Riots of 1918 and these had a profoundeffect on the students of the time. The first student group thatwas formed to study social theory and related problems was theShinjinkai (Enlightened Man Society) at Tokyo Imperial Uni-versity. This was also the start of the whole development of

Socialism and Communism in Japan and left-wing history canbe traced from this point. Thus it was that student organizationshave always been an integral part of the Japanese Socialistmovement and it is quite natural for today's students to expresstheir idealism in terms of socialist revolution.

Actua lly, the first Socialist teachings had ma de their app eara ncein Japan in 1898, through a small Christian oriented groupwhich was formed to study Socialism, which was called theShakaishugi Kenkyukai (The Association for the Study ofSocialism). Following this was an abortive attempt to found aSocial D em ocratic Party and it w asn't un til 1907 that a viableparty was formed which called itself the Nihon Shakaito (JapanSocialist Party). Extremists within this tiny party were committedto violent revolution after the anarchist pattern and finally in1910, they hatched the plot to assassinate the Em pero r M eiji forwhich twelve radicals were executed and the Socialist movementground to a halt.

Next came the Shinjinkai at Tokyo Imperial University whichwas founded in 1918 under the leadership of one of the pro-fessors, Yoshino Sakuzo. Its activities were mainly concernedwith the instruction and study of social ideologies, interpretationof foreign books and lecture meetings. This group was the mostimportant single student organization of the time and con-

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tinued to play an active part in the the democratic movementuntil 1926, organizing itself as a labor movement as well. At thistime, another very important student group was formed atWaseda University called the Gyominkai (Men of Dawn Society)which was to become the nucleus of the first Communist Party.

Th e first efforts to o rganize the students on a nationw idescale came with the formation of the Gakusei Rengo (StudentFederation) which encompassed forty student groups, includingthe Shinjinkai and the Gyominkai, from all Japanese uni-

versities. The first Gakusei Rengo was set up at Tokyo ImperialUniversity in 1922 and by the next year it had spread throu gh ou tJapan and even included several high school groups. The aimof this federation was to promote mutual understanding be-tween students of different schools. In 1923 however, the g overn-ment, alarmed by its rapid growth, tried to suppress it by arrest-ing many of the active leaders. In spite of this, the Ga ku sei Ren gowas able to hold a nationwide meeting in 1924 and by then

could claim membership of forty-nine student groups with atotal of 1,500 students. There were two main factions in theGakusei Rengo; one favoring an active policy of making aradical movement the main purpose of the federation and theother, taking a more scholarly attitude, advocated deeper studyof social problems. A meeting attended by all the representativeswas held to resolve this conflict and the result was a compromisedecision to devote themselves to the spreading of Marxism andto participate in the student movement in the role of students,not p rofessional revolutionaries.

At the same time, the labor movement was beginning to getstarted with the first trade union organizations such as Sodomei(Japanese Fed eration of Lab or) which were also following Socia-list lines. For a while, there had been anarchists in control,but with the international failure of anarcho-syndicalism, 1922

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saw the effective end of their influence in Ja pa n. T he first Com -munist Party was an underground organization founded in 1921while the ostensive public front was an extension of the WasedaGyominkai which had the name Gyomin Kyosanto (Men ofDawn Communist Party). Naturally these parties met withgovernment disapproval and were vigorously suppressed, mostof the leaders being arrested. Finally in 1922, through a group ofJapane se delegates and Com intern officials in M oscow on July15th, a meeting was held to found the Japan Communist Partyas a bran ch of the internationa l com mu nist movem ent. T hislasted until the summer of the following year when the policeobtained a list of the members and it was wiped out. This was thepa ttern in those days when any me ntion of left wing symp athieswas enough to get professors drummed out of their positions.Th e Socialist intellectuals had no chance to fo rm a perm ane ntbody. However, it was already apparent that among the fewJapanese who belonged to these groups a debate was emerging.

The crux of the matter was this: what was the true nature ofJapanese society and what was the correct way to regard socialrevolution in Japa n ? Th e early Com mu nists were very m uchunder the influence of Moscow and so they were concerned withmaking a proletarian revolution despite the fact that at that timethe real mass of the population were peasants. The pivot was inthe development of the bourgeoisie and whether the MeijiReformation had produced a bourgeois revolution in Japan;

if so, then Japan was already ripe for a one-step revolution, butif this was not so then a two-step revolution would be necessary.

It was acknowledged by nearly every one concerned that Jap anwas no t ready for a Co mm unist party, so instead it was decided toform a legal proletarian party. The Japan Communist Partytherefore was disbanded, but when the Comintern heard of thisthey were indignant with such an independent action being taken

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and ordered it to be reformed. Thus it was that several groupscame into being within the Communist movement, each with itsown interp retation of how to act. Accordingly, when the time cameto form a proletarian party in 1925, four separate parties madetheir appearances. The so-called right-wing elements formedthe Shakai Minshuto (Social Mass Party), which included Sodo-mei union representation; the Nihon Nominto (Japan FarmersParty) was based on rural support and by necessity had to berather conservative; the Nihon Ronoto (Japan Labor-Farmer

Party) was in the center and included labor leaders and intellectu-als; and finally there was the Rodo Nominto (Labor-FarmerParty) which was under Communist control.

The governm ent was embarking on a policy of ultra-nationalismand considered any form of social movement as a threat, so it wassystematically harassing and trying to suppress the fledgelingstudent m ovem ent and proletarian parties. In 1925, the Law forthe Maintenance of the Public Peace was passed which gave the

government the power they needed to be able to crush any move-ment that was considered to be against their policies.

This had serious repercussions in the academic world. Profes-sors were forced to give up their research into Marxist andSocialist ideologies or suffer the consequences. In one instance, anAssistant Professor of Tokyo Imperial University spent 3 monthsin jail because the Public Prosecutor argued that his essays madepublic anarchistic thinking like Kropotkin's and was clearlydetrimental to Japanese nationalism. In 1923, the governmenttried to implement a policy of establishing military study groupsin the universities. The first attempt was at Waseda Universityand aroused a storm of protest among the students and led toclashes between the Sumo Wrestling Club, whose sympathieswere with the right wing militarists, and the protesters. Themilitary stud y gro ups did n't succeed, bu t such was the climate

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of the times.

In 1925, the Law for the Maintenance of the Public Peace wasproposed by the Government and it passed the Diet in March.Not only did it prohibit movements and associations which aimedat changing the national character but sympathizers could bepunished under this law to penal servitude for up to 10 years(later in 1928, this was changed to a maximum penalty of death).This law w as first invoked against mem bers of the Gaku sei Ren goat Kyoto Imperial University sending 30 students to prison. The

result of this law was the complete prohibition of free speech andthought until it was finally repealed in 1945 when 500 politicalprisoners were freed by the occupation troops.

In 1928, the Minister of Education, Mizuno Rentaro, sum-moned all the presidents of the major Japanese universities andordered them to break up all of the social science study groupssuch as the Shinjinkai and other members of the Gakusei Rengo.He also insisted that Marxist professors should be eliminated

and as a result, many professors including those who were onlyguilty of lecturing on Marxian economics were forced to resign.At this time, it was clear that the real power lay with the govern-ment in directing the policy of the nniversities and that thepersidents had become very weak. At the same time, the studentsocial science study groups were being suppressed and by 1929all of the important leaders had been arrested, so these groupscould not help but break up.

By the 1920's a fun dam enta l change had come over Japa nesepolitics. The original oligarchy of the Meiji era had died out andhad been replaced by an ever-increasing number of interests whohad succeeded to the mantle of power. Prominent among theseinterests were the newly emerging industrial and economic com-bines which were able to buy control of whichever party wasrepresented in the Cabinet and the government. Thus it was that

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the right-wing parties, the Government Association and the

Constitution Association, were the tools of backroom powergroups. In this atmosphere, the newly educated class of youngintellectuals emerged. We have already noted how these youngmen had turned to the study of social science and Marxism intheir independent strivings toward an interpretation of society.Now there came an even more important phase in which theseyoung men came to form the vanguard of the Japanese Com-munist movement. In doing so they tended to be at odds with

the Comintern and like their leader Fukumoto Kazuo were evenready to criticize Marx

In 1926, Fu ku m ot o an d his associates reform ed the J apa nCommunist Party but within a year due to intense Cominternpressure, Fukumoto was forced to give up his position on theCentral Committee and the Party endorsed the Moscow position.At the sam e time, there was the R on o faction which was organizedby Yamazawa around the monthly magazine Rono (Labor-Farmer). This group tried desperately get to Comintern approvalbut were repeatedly rebuffed for their policies which includedthe thesis that Japan was ripe for a one-step revolution becausethe bourgeoisie had already trium phed over the feudalism of thepast. By 1930, the R on o g rou p was itself as an indepen dent Com -munist faction without any ties and was instrumental in trans-mitting to postwar Japan a staunch Marxist stance to the moremoderate political groups. The origins of the present JapanSocialist Party can be traced f ro m this grotvp an d in time, R o noNational Communism became Socialism.

The electorate was enlarged from 3 million to 13 million in the1928 election and all the proletarian parties campaigned vigorous-ly and gained 5% of the total vote. The Communist Labor-Farmer Party made the most substantial gains, but these wereshort lived as might be expected and the police rounded up some

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1,200 people only one month after the election and the govern-ment ordered the disolution of the Labor-Farmer Party and theProletarian Y outh League as being .Comm unist fron t organiza-tions. This put the Comintern Communists in a bad position asthey opposed the creation of a legal party that would drainsupport from the Communist Party while the Rono faction wentahead and formed a new legal left party, the Musan Taishuto(Proletarian Mass Party), and began to recruit members of thedefunct Labor-Farmer Party. The old Labor-Farmer Party was

revived by some of its former members only to be banned twodays later by the authorities. C om m unist influence continue d inthe labor movement with the formation of Zenkyo (Nihon RodoKumiai Zenkoku Kyogikai-National Council of Japanese LaborUnions) but this only had a membership of 5,500 so it could notbe said to be very important at the time. Through the 1929-1930period, surveillance of Japan ese Com mu nists was on the increase;so precarious was their position that members had taken to

** carryin g guns and on occasion pitched ba ttles were fo ug ht withpolice. But the nation alist tide was sweeping over Jap an and by1935 all the major leaders were in jail, where they remained untilthe end of the war. Other socialist and liberal politicians wereharassed and occasionally imprisoned for short times.

Meanwhile, in the upper levels of government, there was analmost complete break down of parliamentary practice. The sameinfusion of newly educated youth that we saw at the intel-lectual Socialist level was mirrored among the more conservativeof the yo uth. These youn g people tended to com e fro m rura l areasand were thus very reactionary, distrustful of capitalism anddisinclined to hold respect for the older leaders. Many of thesehad joined the army and thus it was that this new breed of right-wing nationalists were sympathetic to totalitarianism, and givenJapan's weakness in the field of natural resources they advocated

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a policy of imperialist expansion. That these militarists wereable to get control of the reins of government was due to theMeiji emphasis on the supreme nature of the Emperor. Bycareful manipulation of the nation's loyalties, the militaristswere able bo th to justify their own actions and to lead the peopleforward in whatever direction they chose. Extremists of thisgroup helped indirectly by liquidating dem ocratic leaders, andalso at the same time, m aking the m ilitarists look m ore m oderate,allowed th em to step forw ard and tak e over. In 1932, the a rmyfinally took over, demanded an end to party Cabinets and putits own men in charge of a Cabinet composed of professionalburea ucrats. T he left-wing parties were all banne d a nd theright-wing parties were left with a powerless Diet in whichthey could do little more than conduct meaningless debates.The elections of 1936 produced very strong support for liberalcandidates which shocked the military considerably and as aresult right-wing extremists were sent out to murder as manyof the leading statesmen as possible. These extremists were

punished, but with all the opposition removed nothing stoodbetween the militarists and complete power.This period saw the creation of the Bureau of Thought Super-

vision within th e M inistry of Ed ucation . This office was justwhat its name implies, a straightjacket for education. It workedin two ways: one through control of schools by sercet policeand propaganda methods, and the other through examiningbooks and su rve y in g- ' th ou g l^ pro ^ Th is bureau

also published books such as Basic Principles of the NationalPolity and The Way of the Subject which were then distributedto all teachers, from primary schools to universities.

In 1936, a Council on Innovation in Learning and Educationwas set up to advise the Ministry of Education on policy in thethought control program. Its members were both teachers and

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laymen and their recommendations for guaranteeing the supportof the people for nationalistic policies were as follows:

1) Institu tions shou ld be interpreted in accord ance withnational aims in contrast with the individualism and materialismof the West;

2) All things not conforming to national policy should beexcluded from Japanese thinking;

3) University professors should be chosen not only for theirscholarship but also for their loyalty to Japanese tradition;

4) Japanese spirit and ancestor worship were two subjects to

be stressed in elementary schools;5) Political reliability should be emphasized in the trainingof teachers, principals and inspectors;

6) Textbooks should enhance the national spirit and shouldinclude exam ination and refuta tion of foreign social philosoph ies;

7) Courses, such as morals and civics, should be taught in sucha way as to strengthen filial piety, loyalty and obedience to law;

8) History, in particular, should interpret Japan's social and

political system favorably;9) Other subjects such as the arts and physical training should

also be utilized.The institution of this thought control program encountered

strong resistance from the universities and many incidentsoccurred. In one case, the Minister of Education (HatoyamaIchiro, who was to become Prime Minister in 1955) forced theresignation of Takigawa Yukitatsu, a law professor at Kyoto,because h e lectured on To lstoy's concepts of pun ishme nt, andsuch teaching was deemed communistic. In spite of protest actionby students and faculty who believed that they would be con-sulted in the hiring or firing of professors, the government stoodfirm and from this time on suppression of academic freedom wasassured.


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In 1935, the cou ntry was co mp letely m ilitarized, with thebudg et fo r military affairs having risen fro m 39.9% in 1933 to46.1%. Under these circumstances the Minobe incident occurred.Minobe Tatsukichi was a retired doctor from Tokyo ImperialUniversity who lectured occasionally, and his crime was to putforward the idea that although the Emperor was the supremehead of the state, his right to govern was limited by the ImperialConstitution of 1889. His ideas were denounced by the militaryauthorities and the right-wing who accused him of disloyaltyand of ridiculing the Emperor. His books were banned and in

the following year he was attacked by a right-wing terrorist whoshot and injured him. (n.b. Minobe's son is the present governorof Tokyo).

In 1937, an oth er inciden t occu rred in which right-wing pro f-essors at Tokyo Imperial University tried to get Professor Yanai-hara Tadao dismissed from the Economics Department forpublishing an anti-war essay entitled 'The Ideal of the State'.At a faculty meeting, however, there was sufficient support for

Yanaihara that no decision could be taken, and in addition thePresident of Tokyo, Nagaio Mataro, was determined to defendhim. At this point, the Minister of Education stepped in andforced Nagaio to change his position and dismiss Yanaihara.Yanaihara, however, resigned before this action could be taken,but this incident set a new precedent in which the faculty meetingwas over-ruled by the government, thus destroying the universityautonomy.

Immediately after this, a group of right-wing professors inthe Economics Department suggested that the students shouldgo to the Meiji Shrine to worship on the day set aside for theMeiji holiday. Several of the more liberal professors opposedthis, only to be marked as unpatriotic and in 1938 these and otherswere arrested and accused of opposing fascism. As a result of

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these arrests, the professors were forced to resign.At this time, Araki Sadao, a general in the army, became the

Minister of Education and his ideas were naturally very mili-taristic. He tried to get the system of electing the president andfaculty of the universities changed to one of appointment.Ho wever, in this case, a the national universities united to protestsuch a change and his recommendation became ineffective. Onanother occasion, a history professor, Tsuda Sokichi, had suc-ceeded in proving that two ancient books had been written forthe purp os e of justifying Imp erial rule and w ere not based on

historical facts, and for this he was persecuted and forbidden topublish his books, he resigned his position and finally was sentenc-ed to three months in prison.

As these examples show, the government's intervention inuniversity affairs was becoming mo re and m ore blatan t an d inthe end, by using the war as an excuse, it was able to completelysubjugate the universities. Students were forced to work in thewar industries and by 1944 were in the battlefield. It is a measure

of the effectiveness of the thought control programs that whenthe desperate measures involving kamikaze suicide pilots weredeveloped, these planes were piloted byu niversity und ergradu ates,ready to give their fives for the Emperor and Japan. In this way,the university had lost its meaning and served merely as a tool ofthe state. Durin g this period ma ny intellectuals were arrested,some spending the whole of the war in prison.

Parliamentary democracy had fared no better for in 1940,using the war as justification, all political parties were disbandedand the nation entered a period of martial rule which only endedwith Japan's surrender and the end of the war.

The Modern PeriodOn September 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered to the

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Allied armies under the leadership of General MacArthur. Forthe next six years MacArthur was the Supreme Leader of theJapanese people and he supervised the task of reforming Japan-ese society. The operative word for this process was democrat-ization. Of course this word has many connotations and wasintended primarily in the American sense, but even from thispoint of view the democratization of Japan was far more radicalthan anything attempted in America. Japan had gone wrong in thepast and drastic treatment was needed. Basic to this policy wasa complete revision of all sections of government. Japan was

presented with a new Constitution on March 6, 1946 in which theposition of the Emperor was defined as symbol of the state withno actual power of government. This was because the militaristshad been able to build their rise to power on use of the Emperor'sposition and the institution he represented. Second to this, theConstitution guaranteed the parliamentary system. Previous tothis time, the Diet had no guarantees as to its power and theactual government was conducted through the Cabinet. The

House of Peers was abolished and in its place was the House ofCouncillors, an elected body of men who were to be in an ad-visory capacity to the House of Representatives in whom thepower of government now rested. The problem of control overthe Army and Navy was solved by abolishing them and now thebureaucrats of the Ministries were directly answerable to the Diet.

Thus it was that Japan gained a foreign military regime thatwas in practice really revolutionary and the policies laid in thatperiod still apply today. Hence, a new era of peace and liberalismbegan in Japan after so many years of militarism and repression.The reaction against the evils of war was so profound that frombeing one of the mo st agressive coun tries in the wo rld, Jap an nowbecame firmly committed to the ideals of peace and democracyand opposed to the use of nuclear weapons.

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To select the new leaders, the Occu pation authorities turn edto those people who had established themselves before the waras being anti-militaristic or at least unaffected by militaristicthinking. The old regime was purged from all positions of au-thority and in this process nearly 200,000 people were involved.Actually, this did not make so m uch difference in the long runfor many of the purged leaders were allowed to take their placesagain in society b efore the end of the O ccup ation, but it did m eanthat people with left-wing political philosophies were able topractise their beliefs freely. With the prewar Communist leaders

released from prison, 1946 saw the organization of a legal JapanCommunist Party (Nihon Kyosanto). The Socialist Party (Sha-kaito) was reorganized from elements of the Social Mass Partyand the Rono faction communists of the prewar era. However,with the coming of legality, the left wing found itself cast inpermanent opposition to the right wing government party.Originally in 1945, the right-wing consisted of three partie s: theJiyuto (Liberal Party) which was directly descended from the

Seiyukai, the Kyodoto (Cooperative Party) and the Shimpoto(Progressive Party), both of which drew their membership fromthe ranks of the old Seiyukai and the M inseito. These thre eparties existed for some time as separate entities but their policieswere very close and in time they were to join together and becameone broad right-wing party.

Ho wever, there was a tendency at this early stage fo r theelectorate to identify the party in power with the Occupationauthorities and on this basis, the Socialist Party enjoyed a briefspell of gov ernm ent. I n th e first election af ter the w ar, the Liberalshad a plurality, but later in 1947, the Socialists and the Demo-crats (the Progressive Party had been renamed as the NihonMinshutoJapan Democratic Party that year) won 143 and131 seats respectively against the Liberals' total of 124 seats.

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A coalition government was formed between the Socialists andthe Democrats with the Socialist leader, Katayama, as PrimeM inister. A t this time, inte rna l divisions within the SocialistParty were aggravated by the necessarily close associations theruling party had to have with the Occupation forces and thisled first to a revolt of the Socialist left-wing an d then to thecomplete withdrawal of the Socialists from the coalition. Withthis ended the first and only Socialist government in Japanesehistory.

With the collapse of the coalition, the electorate swung awayfrom the center and the Democrats lost seats to the Liberalsand the Socialists lost to the Communists. A large number ofform er D em ocrats h ad also joined the- Liberals, an d in 1950 theLiberals even changed their name to the Minshujiyuto (Demo-cratic Liberal Party). With this increased support, the Liberalsresumed power and have managed to hold onto it since that time.The Socialists, on the other hand, suffered a split in 1948 andbecame three separate parties; the Rodosha Nominto (Worker-

Farmer Party), the Shakai Kakushinto (Social Reform Party)and the Socialist Party.

The Communist Party had emerged from the war as a partywhieh was made up of men who had spent more than fifteenyears in prison or in exile. They regarded the Occupation au-thorities as being favorable for their dreams of completing thefirst stage of revolution, that of establishing a democratic-bourgeois society. This thesis as put forward by Nozaka was

criticized by Moscow through its new organ Cominform, andthus the Communists were obliged to put on a much more un-compromising attitude towards the Occupation. One of theannoying things was that the Occupation was sufficiently radicalin its reforms, such as land reform, modification of the Emperorsystem and the break-up of the monopolistic cartels, as to rob

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the C om mu nists of an effective pro gra m w ith which to app eal tothe masses. Particularly felt was the inability of the Communiststo get any wide-spread support from rural areas. At this stage,the Communists also suffered a setback in their attempt to winmass support of the labor movement. Immediately after thewar, the labor movement was re-established, and whereas it hadnever before claimed allegiance of more than 7% of the workingpopulation, the numbers quickly rose to 50% of all industrialworkers. Two federations were formed: one was Sodomei(Gene ral Federation of La bo r) which was under Socialist do min a-

tion and had strong prewar foundations; the other was Sanbetsu(Congress of Industrial Unions) which was under Communistcontrol. At the start, it was Sanbetsu which enjoyed the greatestsuccess, quickly enlarging its membership within the labormo vem ent, but the turnin g point came when in 1947, the C om -munists tried to organize a general strike which was put downby the last-minute intervention of the Occupation authorites.As the federation directly responsible for this fiasco, Sanbetsu

lost most of its union affiliates, with mem bership d rop ping fr om1,500,000 in the beginning to only 400,000 by 1949. The Com-munist Party and in particular its newspaper, Akahata (RedFlag), became ever more critical of the Occupation and after thesuccess of the Chinese Com m unists on the mainlan d, were tem ptedto try for all out armed revolution. The only result of this was forthe Communists to become increasingly isolated from the public.

In conformance with the new political changes after the war,educational policies were also changed. Militarism and ultra-nationalism were eliminated fro m the educational system in everyfor m . So far reaching were these reform s tha t for a period teachershad to teach their students from the old textbooks, giving in-structions as to which sentences to delete and which to retain.This about-face on the part of the teachers, later led to a great

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deal of scepticism on the part of the students. However, the basicsteps were taken to repeal such laws as the Publication Law, theNewspaper Law and the Law for the Maintenance of the PublicPeace, all of which impinged on individual and academic free-dom . Militarists and ultranationalists were forced to stop teachingwhile teachers who had been purged before 1945 were invitedback to their form er posts. The principles of university auton om y,freedom of study, thought and expression were all reinstated inthe educational system.

In March, 1946, the United States Education Mission arrivedin Japan to advise on educational reconstruction. In conjunctionwith this, a Japanese Education Reform Committee, (KyoikuSashin Inkai), was formed so as to discuss with and assist theU.S. Mission in solving the problems of Japanese education.The Mission ended its visit by making the following list of re-commendations :

1) Introduction of freedom and democratization of education;

2) Decentralization of the Ministry of Education's control;3) Substitution of Social Studies for the courses on Morals;4) A 6-3-3 ladder (6 years elementary school, 3 years junior

high school and 3 years high school), the first 9 years of whichwould be compulsory and free for all children;

5) Greater emphasis on physical and vocational education atall levels;

6) Independence of private schools;7) Change in the methods of student guidance;8) Development of adult education.9) Increase in the number of universities;

10) Broadening the scope of teacher training by means of 4-year normal schools which would provide both a professionaland a liberal education.

On the basis of these recommendations the Education Reform

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Committee drafted the Fundamental Law of Education whichpassed the Diet in March, 1947. We shall quote a part of thislaw.

The Fundamental Law of EducationPreface

Ha ving established a new Japanese con stitution, we have show nour resolve to contribute to the peace of the world and thewelfare of humanity by building a democratic and cultural state.The realization of this ideal shall depend fundamentally on the

strength of education.We shall esteem individual dignity and endeavor to bring up

people who love truth and peace by providing them with aneducation which aims at the creation of a universal and individualculture.

We hereby enact this law, in accordance with the spirit of theConstitution of Japan, with a view to clarifying the aim ofeducation and establishing the foundation for a new Japan.

Article 1: The Aim of EducationEducation shall aim at the full development of personality

striving for the cultivation of a people sound in mind and body,who shall love truth and justice, esteem individual value, respectlabor, have a deep sense of responsibility and be imbued with anindependent spirit as builders of a peaceful state and society.Article 3: Equal Opportunity in Education

The people shall all be given equal opportunities in receivingan education according to their ability and they shall not besubject to educational discrimination on account of race, creed,sex, social status, economic position or family origin. The stateand local public corporations shall take measures to give financialassistance to those wh o have difficulty, in spite of their ability,in receiving education for economic reasons.

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Article 8: Political EducationThe political knowledge necessary for intelligent citizenship

shall be valued in edu cation. How ever, schools shall refrain fro mpolitical education or other political activity for or against anyspecific political pa rty .Article 10: School Administration

Education shall not be subject to improper control but shallbe directly responsible to all the people. School Administrationshall, on the basis of this realization, aim at the adjustment and

establishment of various conditions required in order to fulfillthe purposes of education.

This was the first time that the principles governing Japaneseeducation had heen made into law. In the past, education hadto function in accordance with a series of Imperial Edicts whichhad laid down the principles for the benefit of the Emperor andJapan. Now for the first time, education was to be for the benefit

of the individual student.Accompanying this law was the School Education Law which

provided the details for carrying out the aims of the new educa-tion. It specified a 6-3-3^ education, making the first 9 years,elementary school and junior high school compulsory for allchildren, including the handicapped.

However, many of the reforms which were instituted did notfit very well into the Japanese system of education and were metwith a certain a m ou nt of resistance. Th e Am erican edu cators whoadvised on these reforms, based their recommendations on theirown experience in the State and local educational systems in theU.S. and these were not always appropriate to Japan. In contrastto the U.S., Japan is a small country with a closely knit society,hence a centralized education system is more suited to Japanthan to the U.S. The decentralization of tbe Ministry of Educa-

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tion was one of the first reforms to be subjected to a reversalafter the end of the occupation, when in 1956, the centralizedpowers of the Ministry were restored. Many such ill-suited re-forms exist even today and are the source of some friction in theeducational system.

Many new universities were established in 1949 under this law,and they were formed out of institutions, such as high schools,specialized schools and teacher training schools, that had existedunder the previous system. They were modelled after the State

universities in the U.S. and were open to women. Most of thenew universities were private and in the first twenty years afterthe war, the number of private universities doubled while nationaluniversities stayed at almo st the same level, the num ber of stud en tsenrolled increased by nearly four times and the number of femalestudents went up more than eight times.

Under the new Constitution, university autonomy and aca-demic freedom were to a great extent guaranteed and many of

the educational practices which were under the control of tbegovernment were completely reformed. However, it was neces-sary to also reconsider the entire structure of the university aswell as its relation to the Ministry of Education. In 1947, at the50th general meeting of the Education Reform Committee, thefollowing reforms were suggested in the formulation of a Uni-versity Law:

1) As university autonomy should be respected, managementshould be left to the university.

2) A central educational committee should be established soas to democratize education and improve its quality.

3) The Ministry of Education should be abolished and in itsplace a Ministry of Culture established.

The Occupation Authorities also suggested that a Board ofTrustees or Regents similar to the State universities in the U.S.

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be set up and should be com posed of men of experience andknowledge who were not otherwise members of the university.This last suggestion met with opposition from many professorsincluding the heads of the seven old Imperial Universities whoobjected to the intrusion of non-university people into the uni-versity, for this was felt to entail many dangers.

The prop osa l to abolish the M inistry of E du cation was fiercelyresisted by the bureaucrats of the Ministry and because of theirpressure, it was never realized.

Another strong opponent of tbe proposed University Law wasthe newly formed organization, Zengakuren. This federation wasformed in September, 1948, and consisted of students fromnational, public and private universities. The government attbe time was suspected of planning to suppress the studentmovement and given this situation, some 200,000 students wenton strike against the attempt to change the university system.Finally in 1951, a plan for a U niversity Law was propo sed to the10th Diet. It called for respect of university autonomy and the

establishment of a National University Council. This councilwould consist of 20 me mb ers appo inted by the M inistry ofEducation and it would consider the important problems of theuniversities. In addition to this, a Shogikai (Consultative Com-mittee) would be set up, consisting of professors, men of know-ledge and men of experience. However, once again this legislationran into fierce opposition on the part of both the professors andZengakuren, and so it had to shelved.

This brings us into the beginning of the Zengakuren periodand we will now take up our study of the modern Japanesestudent movement.

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ment to protest tbe old system which was still existing on thecampus.

Th e real start of the student movem ent was the dem ocratizationstruggle at Mito High School (now Ibaragi University) in 1945.At Mito, the president was appointed by the Ministry of Educa-tion and his policies at the time had resulted in the progressiveprofessors being restricted in their activities and the studentmanagement of their dormitories being taken away. So thestudents, who were proud of their High School's tradition ofliberalism, started a movement which they called a campus

liberation struggle. They went on strike and shut themselves upin one of the dormitories with the aim of forcing the dismissalof the conservative president and the return of the progressiveprofessors. The students conditions were accepted after only atbree day strike and meeting with such success, the movementsoon spread to nearly every campus in the country. It was notlimited just to national universities and government schools, butalso affected priva te universities as well. Fo r in stance, the u niver-

sity authorities at Nippon University Medical Faculty were con-fused by the deman ds of the students and closed the cam pus. Butin spite of tbis, the students still went to the university and, moreim porta nt, a plan was eventually hamm ered out in which studentshad some say in the use of the education fund and were able tocriticize the management by the university authorities. Thisplan, with the students taking pa rt in the mana gem ent of a privateuniversity, was really epoch-making at the time from the pointof view of the way in which universities were being run. Alsoaffected were the missionary schools which had been deprivedof the freedom of thought with respect to religion before the warand where Shintoism had been enforced. The professors and au-thorities at some 81 schools were forced to resign through studentprotests, which illustrates quite graphically the inroads the ultra-

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nationalists had made into the private school system before thewar.

At first, however, these protests were isolated incidents whichfollowed the general mood for 'democratization' that was ex-isting in Japan at the time and were in keeping with the policybeing pursued by the Occupation adminstration. Later, theseactions were united and February, 1946 saw the formation of theJap an Yo un g Com mu nist Alliance which was aligned with theJapan Communist Party (JCP). The Social Science Study groupswere set up again and they held a May Day celebration

in which the following resolutions were adopted: demo-cratization of the campus, stabilization of the student's livelihood,joint control by students and teachersincluding a student self-government system and participation in the hiring of teachers,opposition to any increase in school fees and most important ofall there emerged the idea to form a student democratic frontwith the aim of opposing the reactionary Y oshid a governm ent andestablishing a people's government. Thus the students were seen

to be a force by which the government could be overthrown.In Janu ary, 1947, due to its inability to accom odate the studen ts'

demands for participation in the running of the university, TokyoUniversity took the step of allowing the students to form theirown Student Self-Governing Association (jichikai). This ideawas quickly adop ted by other universities which were lookin g fo ra comp romise solution as a way to end student p rotests. The Self-Governing Associations d

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