TheKenkokukai (建国会/建國會, National Foundation Society) was a Japanesesecret society founded byBin Akao in April 1926. It was ananti-communist organisation, strongly influenced by theNational Socialism ofMotoyuki Takabatake.
The predecessor of this association was the steering committee for the National Foundation Festival (建国祭), which was organized in opposition toMay Day. It proclaimed its object to be "the creation of a genuine people'sstate based on unanimity between the people and theemperor".[1] At its height, the organization reached a nationwide membership of around 120,000.
Itsstatist program included the demand for "the state control of the life of the people in order that among Japanese people there should not be a single unfortunate nor unfully-franchised individual".[1] The organisation embracedPan-Asianism declaring "The Japanese people standing at the head of thecolored people, will bring the world a newcivilization."[This quote needs a citation] It was at one time in favor ofuniversal suffrage.[1]
The Kenkokukai worked in close concert with the police to break the minersstrike in Tochigi, and other strikes by factory workers in Kanegafuchi, tramway workers inTokyo, and tenant farmers inGifu Prefecture. Uesugi soon withdrew in 1927, and Takabatake supporters left following his death in 1928. This left the organization with only around 10,000 members.Tōyama Mitsuru (頭山満) of theBlack Dragon Society (黒龍会) was appointed honorary chairperson, and Nagata, a formerPolice Chief, vice-chair. Others of this new influx included Ikihara, Kida, and Sugimoto. Akao was director of the league, which organized gangs of strike breakers and in 1928 bombed theSoviet embassy.[2] Their paperNipponshugi was virulentlyanti-communist with slogans such as "Death toCommunism, toRussianBolshevism, and to theLeft parties andworkers' unions".
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