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| Taishō大正 | |||
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| 30 July 1912 – 25 December 1926 | |||
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 Emperor Taishō (1900) | |||
| Location | Japan | ||
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| Monarch(s) | Taishō Hirohito(Sesshō) | ||
| Part ofa series on the | ||
| History of Japan | ||
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TheTaishō era (大正時代,Taishō jidai;[taiɕoːdʑidai]ⓘ) was a period in thehistory of Japan dating from July 30th, 1912 to December 25th, 1926, coinciding with the reign ofEmperor Taishō.[1] The new emperor was a sickly man, which prompted the shift in political power from the oldoligarchic group of elder statesmen (orgenrō) to theImperial Diet of Japan and thedemocraticparties. Thus, the era is considered the time of theliberal movement known asTaishō Democracy; it is usually distinguished from the preceding chaoticMeiji era and the followingmilitaristic-driven first part of theShōwa era.[2]
The two kanji characters in Taishō (大正) were from a passage of theClassical ChineseI Ching:大亨以正 天之道也 (translated: "Great prevalence is achieved through rectitude, and this is theDao of Heaven.")[3] The term could be roughly understood as meaning "great rectitude", or "great righteousness".
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On 30 July 1912,Emperor Meiji died and Crown PrinceYoshihito succeeded to the throne asEmperor of Japan. In his coronation address, the newly enthroned Emperor announced his reign'snengō (era name)Taishō, meaning "great righteousness".[4]
The end of the Meiji period was marked by huge government, domestic, and overseas investments and defense programs, nearly exhausted credit, and a lack of foreign reserves to pay debts. The influence ofWestern culture experienced in the Meiji period also continued. Notable artists, such asKobayashi Kiyochika, adopted Western painting styles while continuing to work inukiyo-e; others, such asOkakura Kakuzō, kept an interest in traditionalJapanese painting. Authors such asMori Ōgai studied in the West, bringing back with them to Japan different insights on human life influenced by developments in the West.
The events following theMeiji Restoration in 1868 had seen not only the fulfillment of many domestic and foreign economic and political objectives—without Japan suffering the colonial fate of other Asian nations—but also a new intellectual ferment, in a time when there was worldwide interest in communism and socialism and an urbanproletariat was developing. Universal malesuffrage,social welfare,workers' rights, and nonviolent protests were ideals of the early leftist movement.[citation needed] Government suppression of leftist activities, however, led to more radical leftist action and even more suppression, resulting in the dissolution of theJapan Socialist Party (日本社会党,Nihon Shakaitō) only a year after its founding and general failure of the socialist movement in 1906.[citation needed]
The beginning of the Taishō period was marked by theTaishō political crisis in 1912–13 that interrupted the earlier politics of compromise. WhenSaionji Kinmochi tried to cut the military budget, the army minister resigned, bringing down theRikken Seiyūkai cabinet. BothYamagata Aritomo and Saionji refused to resume office, and thegenrō were unable to find a solution. Public outrage over the military manipulation of the cabinet and the recall ofKatsura Tarō for a third term led to still more demands for an end togenrō politics. Despite old guard opposition, the conservative forces formed a party of their own in 1913, theRikken Dōshikai, a party that won a majority in the House over the Seiyūkai in late 1914.
On February 12, 1913,Yamamoto Gonnohyōe succeeded Katsura asprime minister. In April 1914,Ōkuma Shigenobu replaced Yamamoto.
Crown Prince Yoshihito marriedSadako Kujō on 10 May 1900. Their coronation took place on November 11, 1915.
World War I permitted Japan, which fought on the side of the victoriousAllied Powers, to expand its influence in Asia and its territorial holdings in the north equatorial Pacific. Japan declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914, and quickly occupied German-leased territories in China'sShandong and theMariana,Caroline, andMarshall islands in the north Pacific Ocean. On November 7,Jiaozhou surrendered to Japan.
With its Western allies heavily involved in the war in Europe, Japan sought further to consolidate its position in China by presenting theTwenty-One Demands (Japanese:対華二十一ヶ条要求; Chinese:二十一条) to theGovernment in January 1915. Besides expanding its control over German holdings,Manchuria andInner Mongolia, Japan also sought joint ownership of a major mining and metallurgical complex in central China, prohibitions on China's ceding or leasing any coastal areas to a third power, and miscellaneous other political, economic and military controls, which, if achieved, would have reduced China to a Japanese protectorate. In the face of slow negotiations with the Chinese government, widespreadanti-Japanese sentiment in China and international condemnation forced Japan to withdraw the final group of demands and treaties were signed in May of 1915.
Japan's hegemony in northern China and other parts of Asia was facilitated through other international agreements. One with Russia in 1916 helped further secure Japan's influence in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, and agreements with France, Britain, and the United States in 1917 recognized Japan's territorial gains in China and the north Pacific. TheNishihara Loans (named after Nishihara Kamezo, Tokyo's representative in Beijing) of 1917 and 1918, while aiding the Chinese government, put China still deeper into Japan's debt. Toward the end of the war, Japan increasingly filled orders for its European allies' needed war material, thus helping to diversify the country's industry, increase its exports, and transform Japan from a debtor to a creditor nation for the first time.
Japan's power in Asia grew following the collapse of the Imperial Russian government in 1917 after theRussian Revolution. Wanting to seize the opportunity, the Japanese army planned to occupySiberia as far west asLake Baikal. To do so, Japan had to negotiate an agreement with China allowing the transit of Japanese troops through Chinese territory. Although the force was scaled back to avoid antagonizing the United States, more than 70,000 Japanese troops joined the much smaller units of theAllied expeditionary force sent to Siberia in July 1918 as part of theAllied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
On October 9, 1916,Terauchi Masatake took over asprime minister fromŌkuma Shigenobu. On November 2, 1917, theLansing–Ishii Agreement noted the recognition of Japan's interests in China and pledges of keeping an "Open Door Policy" (門戸開放政策). From July to September 1918,rice riots erupted due to increasing price of rice. The large scale rioting and collapse of public order led to the end of Terauchi Masatake government.
The postwar era brought Japan unprecedented prosperity.[citation needed] Japan went to the1919 Paris Peace Conference as one of the great military and industrial powers of the world and received official recognition as one of the "Big Five" nations of the new international order.[5] Tokyo was granted a permanent seat on the Council of theLeague of Nations and the peace treaty confirmed the transfer to Japan of Germany's rights inShandong, a provision that led to anti-Japanese riots and a mass political movement throughout China. Similarly, Germany's former north Pacific islands were put under aJapanese mandate. Japan was also involved in the post-war Allied intervention in Russia and was the last Allied power to withdraw (doing so in 1925). Despite its small role in World War I and the Western powers' rejection of itsbid for a racial equality clause in the peace treaty, Japan emerged as a major actor in international politics at the close of the war.
The two-party political system that had been developing in Japan since the turn of the century came of age after World War I, gave rise to the nickname for the period, "Taishō Democracy". In 1918,Hara Takashi, a protégé of Saionji and a major influence in the prewar Seiyūkai cabinets, had become the first commoner to serve as prime minister. He took advantage of long-standing relationships he had throughout the government, won the support of the survivinggenrō and the House of Peers, and brought into his cabinet as army ministerTanaka Giichi, who had a greater appreciation of favorable civil-military relations than his predecessors. Nevertheless, major problems confronted Hara: inflation, the need to adjust the Japanese economy to postwar circumstances, the influx of foreign ideas, and an emerging labor movement. Prewar solutions were applied by the cabinet to these postwar problems, and little was done to reform the government. Hara worked to ensure a Seiyūkai majority through time-tested methods, such as new election laws and electoral redistricting, and embarked on major government-funded public works programs.[6]
The public grew disillusioned with the growing national debt and the new election laws, which retained the old minimum tax qualifications for voters. Calls were raised for universal suffrage and the dismantling of the old political party network. Students, university professors, and journalists, bolstered by labor unions and inspired by a variety of democratic, socialist, communist, anarchist, and other Western schools of thought, mounted large but orderly public demonstrations in favor of universal male suffrage in 1919 and 1920.[citation needed] New elections brought still another Seiyūkai majority, but barely so. In the political climate of the day, there was a proliferation of new parties, including socialist and communist parties.
In the midst of this political ferment, Hara was assassinated by a disenchanted railroad worker in 1921. Hara was followed by a succession of nonparty prime ministers and coalition cabinets. Fear of a broader electorate, left-wing power, and the growing social change engendered by the influx of Western popular culture together led to the passage of thePeace Preservation Law in 1925, which forbade any change in the political structure or the abolition of private property.
In 1921, during theInterwar period, Japan developed and launched theHōshō, which was the first purpose-designedaircraft carrier in the world.[7][a] Japan subsequently developed a fleet of aircraft carriers that was second to none.
Unstable coalitions and divisiveness in the Diet led theKenseikai (憲政会, Constitutional Government Association) and theSeiyū Hontō (政友本党, TrueSeiyūkai) to merge as theRikken Minseitō (立憲民政党, Constitutional Democratic Party) in 1927. TheRikken Minseitō platform was committed to the parliamentary system, democratic politics, and world peace. Thereafter, until 1932, theSeiyūkai and theRikken Minseitō alternated in power.The two-party system during this period is called "Established practices in constitutional politics(憲政の常道, Kensei no Jodo)".
Despite the political realignments and hope for more orderly government, domestic economic crises plagued whichever party held power. Fiscal austerity programs and appeals for public support of such conservative government policies as the Peace Preservation Law—including reminders of the moral obligation to make sacrifices for the emperor and the state—were attempted as solutions. While the impact of theAmerican panic of October 1929 was still reverberating throughout the world, the Japanese government lifted the gold embargo at the old parity in January 1930. These two blows struck the Japanese economy simultaneously, and the country was plunged into a severe depression.[8] There was a sense of rising discontent that was heightened with the assault uponRikken Minseitō prime ministerOsachi Hamaguchi in 1930. Though Hamaguchi survived the attack and tried to continue in office despite the severity of his wounds, he was forced to resign the following year and died not long afterwards.
Thevictory of the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1922 and their hopes for aworld revolution led to the establishment of theComintern. The Comintern realized the importance of Japan in achieving successful revolution in East Asia and actively worked to form theJapanese Communist Party, which was founded in July 1922. The announced goals of the Japanese Communist Party in 1923 included the unification of the working class as well as farmers, recognition of the Soviet Union, and withdrawal of Japanese troops from Siberia, Sakhalin, China, Korea, and Taiwan. In the coming years, authorities tried to suppress the party, especially after theToranomon Incident when a radical student under the influence of Japanese Marxist thinkers tried to assassinate Prince RegentHirohito. The1925 Peace Preservation Law was a direct response to the perceived "dangerous thoughts" perpetrated by communist and socialist elements in Japan.
The liberalization of election laws with theGeneral Election Law in 1925 benefited communist candidates, even though the Japan Communist Party itself was banned. A new Peace Preservation Law in 1928, however, further impeded communist efforts by banning the parties they had infiltrated. The police apparatus of the day was ubiquitous and quite thorough in attempting to control the socialist movement. By 1926, the Japan Communist Party had been forced underground, by the summer of 1929 the party leadership had been virtually destroyed, and by 1933 the party had largely disintegrated.
Pan-Asianism was characteristic ofright-wing politics and conservative militarism since the inception of the Meiji Restoration, contributing greatly to the pro-war politics of the 1870s. Disenchanted formersamurai had established patriotic societies and intelligence-gathering organizations, such as theGen'yōsha (玄洋社, "Black Ocean Society"; founded in 1881) and its later offshoot, theKokuryūkai (黒竜会, "Black Dragon Society" or "Amur River Society"; founded in 1901). These groups became active in domestic and foreign politics, helped foment pro-war sentiments, and supported ultra-nationalist causes through the end ofWorld War II. After Japan's victories over China and Russia, the ultra-nationalists concentrated on domestic issues and perceived domestic threats such as socialism and communism.
Emerging Chinese nationalism, the victory of the communists in Russia, and the growing presence of the United States in East Asia all worked against Japan's postwar foreign policy interests. The four-yearSiberian expedition and activities in China, combined with big domestic spending programs, had depleted Japan's wartime earnings. Only through more competitive business practices, supported by further economic development and industrial modernization, all accommodated by the growth of thezaibatsu, could Japan hope to become dominant in Asia. The United States, long a source of many imported goods and loans needed for development, was seen as becoming a major impediment to this goal because of its policies of containing Japanese imperialism.
An international turning point inmilitary diplomacy was theWashington Conference of 1921–22, which produced a series of agreements that effected a new order in the Pacific region. Japan's economic problems made a naval buildup nearly impossible and, realizing the need to compete with the United States on an economic rather than a military basis, rapprochement became inevitable. Japan adopted a more neutral attitude toward the civil war in China, dropped efforts to expand its hegemony intoChina proper, and joined the United States, Britain, and France in encouraging Chinese self-development.
In theFour-Power Treaty on Insular Possessions signed on December 13, 1921, Japan, the United States, Britain, and France agreed to recognize the status quo in the Pacific, and Japan and Britain agreed to formally terminate theAnglo-Japanese Alliance. TheWashington Naval Treaty, signed on February 6, 1922, established an international capital ship ratio for the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy (5, 5, 3, 1.75, and 1.75, respectively) and limited the size and armaments of capital ships already built or under construction. In a move that gave the Japanese Imperial Navy greater freedom in the Pacific Ocean, Washington and London agreed not to build any new military bases between Singapore and Hawaii.
The goal of theNine-Power Treaty also signed on February 6, 1922, by Belgium, China, the Netherlands, and Portugal, along with the original five powers, was to prevent a war in the Pacific. The signatories agreed to respect China's independence and integrity, not to interfere in Chinese attempts to establish a stable government, to refrain from seeking special privileges in China or threatening the positions of other nations there, to support a policy of equal opportunity for commerce and industry of all nations in China, and to reexamine extraterritoriality and tariff autonomy. Japan also agreed to withdraw its troops fromShandong, relinquishing all but purely economic rights there, and to evacuate its troops from Siberia.
Overall, during the 1920s, Japan changed its direction toward a democratic system of government. However,parliamentary government was not rooted deeply enough to withstand the economic and political pressures of the 1930s, during which military leaders became increasingly influential. These shifts in power were made possible by the ambiguity and imprecision of theMeiji Constitution, particularly regarding the position of the Emperor in relation to the constitution.[citation needed]
By coincidence, Taishō year numbering just happens to be the same as that of theMinguo calendar of the Republic of China, and theJuche calendar ofNorth Korea.
To convert anyGregorian calendar year between 1912 and 1926 toJapanese calendar year in Taishō era, subtract 1911 from the year in question.
| Taishō | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV | |
| AD | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 |
| MCMXII | MCMXIII | MCMXIV | MCMXV | MCMXVI | MCMXVII | MCMXVIII | MCMXIX | MCMXX | MCMXXI | MCMXXII | MCMXXIII | MCMXXIV | MCMXXV | MCMXXVI |
Attribution
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. "Japan".Country Studies.Federal Research Division.| Preceded by Meiji (明治) | Era of Japan Taishō (大正) 30 July 1912 – 25 December 1926 | Succeeded by Shōwa (昭和) |
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