TheDark/Black Ocean Society (Japanese:玄洋社,Hepburn:Gen'yōsha) was an influentialPan-Asianist group andsecret society active in theEmpire of Japan.
Founded as theKoyōsha by Hiraoka Kotarō (1851–1906), a wealthy ex-samurai and mine-owner, with mining interests inManchuria,Tōyama Mitsuru, and other former samurai of theFukuoka Domain, it agitated for a return to the old feudal Japanese order with special privileges and government stipends for the samurai class.[1]:215 TheKoyōsha participated in the various ex-samurai uprisings inKyūshū against the earlyMeiji government, but after the suppression of theSatsuma Rebellion in 1877, it abandoned its original goals, joined the pro-democracyFreedom and People's Rights Movement, and formed a political organization to agitate for a nationalparliament instead.
In 1881, theKoyōsha changed its direction again. The February 1881 founding charter of theGen'yōsha described its ideals as (1) respect theimperial house (2) love your home region and (3) firmly defend and protect the people's rights.[2]: 167 However, its true agenda was to agitate for Japanese military expansion and conquest of the Asian continent. The true agenda was reflected in its new name ofGen'yōsha, taken after theGenkainada strait which separates Japan fromKorea.[3]
The tactics which theGen'yōsha was prepared to use to achieve its goals were also far from peaceful. It began as aterrorist organization, and although it continued to recruit disaffected ex-samurai, it also attracted figures involved inorganized crime to assist in its campaigns of violence and assassination against foreigners andliberal politicians.[1]:217
TheGen'yōsha was a major force in theFreedom and People's Rights Movement.[2]: 44 During the 1885Osaka incident, theGen'yōsha and several other Freedom and People's Rights Movement groups simultaneously attempted to overthrow the Meiji oligarchs in uprisings inside Japan, China, and Korea.[2]: 44
In 1889, theGen'yōsha strongly criticized theunequal treaty revision plan drafted by foreign ministerŌkuma Shigenobu. Gen'yōsha militant Kurushima Tsuneki attempted to kill Ōkuma by throwing a bomb under his carriage.[2]: 251–253 After the bomb detonated, and apparently believing he had succeeded, Kurushima bowed and killed himself by stabbing himself twice in the neck.[2]: 253 Ōkuma survived, and his left leg was amputated at the hip following two operations.[2]: 253
In theelection of 1892, theGen'yōsha mounted a campaign of intimidation and violence with the tacit support of theMatsukata administration to influence the outcome of the election.
One of the primary targets of theGen'yōsha were the manyChinese secret societies, some of which were very hostile to Japan. However, the Chinese secret societies had a shared goal with theGen'yōsha in wanting the overthrow of theQing dynasty.[4] In 1881,Mitsuru Tōyama sent over 100 men into China to gather information and to infiltrate these secret societies. One of the first and most detailed histories of the secret societies was written byGen'yōsha member Hiraya Amane, who assisted in the establishment of theGen'yōsha's Chinese headquarters inHangzhou.
TheGen'yōsha not only provided funds and weapons to the secret societies, but also arranged for refuge in Japan for leaders targeted by the Qing government. TheGen'yosha established a large network of brothels across China (and later throughout Southeast Asia) to provide meeting locations, and also to gather information. In addition to being a profitable side-business, the brothels provided opportunities to gather useful information for the laterblackmail or subversion of patrons. However, although blackmail and bribery were often resorted to, more often information was obtained by employing prostitutes highly skilled in extracting information from their clients. TheGen'yōsha even established a training school for such agents inSapporo inHokkaidō.
Another sphere ofGen'yōsha activity wasKorea. TheGen'yōsha established a task force to prepare detailed topographical survey maps ofKorea in secret, in anticipation of a future Japanese invasion. TheGen'yōsha also actively supported theDonghak Peasant Movement, knowing that the uprising was likely to draw China and Japan into a war. The assassination ofQueen Min of Korea in 1895 is believed to have been conducted byGen'yosha members, at the instigation of the Japanese Minister inSeoul,Miura Gorō.[5]
Originally ignored by the Japanese military, during theFirst Sino-Japanese War andRusso-Japanese War, both theImperial Japanese Army andImperial Japanese Navy found theGen'yōsha's extensive intelligence gathering network throughout East Asia to be invaluable. TheGen'yōsha network was also useful for the military in conductingsabotage activities behind enemy lines.
After the annexation of Korea in 1910, theGen'yōsha continued to support efforts towardsPan-Asianism. Domestically, it formed apolitical party called theDai Nippon Seisantō ("Greater Japan Production Party") to combat the influence ofcommunism andsocialism in worker trade unions.
Towards its later years, theGen'yōsha was far removed from its origins as asecret society, but had evolved almost to the mainstream of Japanese politics. A number of cabinet ministers and members of theJapanese Diet were known members, and mainstream political leaders, such asHirota Kōki andNakano Seigō emerged from its ranks. It continued to exert considerable influence on the politics and foreign policy of Japan until the end ofWorld War II.
TheGen'yōsha was disbanded by theAmerican authorities during the Occupation of Japan.[6]
The primary English-language text on theGen'yōsha presents the group asultranationalistic.[2]: 167 Academic Mark W. Driscoll writes that even that text recognizes that theGen'yōsha did not want Emperor Meiji's power to expand and in 1881 the organization's position was simply that the imperial household should be respected.[2]: 167 Writing in 1935,Yumeno Kyūsaku stated that the earlyGen'yōsha was not nationalistic.[2]: 168
TheGen'yōsha was considered to be an ultranationalist group byGeneral Headquarters in theInternational Military Tribunal for the Far East.[7]
TheGen'yōsha was the forerunner of a number of organizations which inherited and developed its ideology. It also set the stage for the post-World War II ties betweenright-wing politicians andyakuza organizedcrime syndicates.[citation needed]
Although modernyakuza share many ofGen'yōsha's political and social philosophies, and although many ofGen'yōsha's members were drawn fromyakuza ranks, theGen'yōsha was primarily a political organization that often used criminal means to attain its goals, and was not ayakuza group itself, as some authors have claimed.[8]
Part of its role in Korean history (and its methods for gathering information) is fictionalised in the 2018 South Korean TV series,Mr Sunshine.[9]
Genyosha, a first fascist association of Japan
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