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Sakai Toshihiko
堺 利彦
Sakai Toshihiko
Born	(1871-11-25)November 25, 1871 Miyako, Fukuoka,Japan
Died	January 23, 1933(1933-01-23) (aged 61) Tokyo, Japan
Burial place	Sōjō-ji,Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama
Other names	Saka Kosen
Occupation(s)	Journalist, newspaper editor, politician

Sakai Toshihiko (堺 利彦; November 25, 1871 – January 23, 1933) was a Japanese socialist. He advocated opposition to theRusso-Japanese War, founded theHeiminsha and published the newspaperHeimin Shimbun. He formed theJapan Socialist Party and theJapanese Communist Party, and became the first general secretary of the Japanese Communist Party. His pen name isSaka Kosen (堺枯川). He is also known for his translation withKōtoku Shūsui.

Sakai was born as the third son to asamurai class family in what is nowMiyako, Fukuoka. He attended what is now theKaisei Academy where he studied the English language. However, he was expelled from the prestigious No.1 Higher Middle School for failure to pay his tuition, and worked as a tutor and a journalist inFukuoka andOsaka while studying literature on his own, and writing works of fiction. He was invited toTokyo bySuematsu Kenchō to stay at the residence of the formerMōri clan to help edit a history of theMeiji Restoration.^{[citation needed]}

Afterwards, he went to work for theYorozu Morning News, where he began to support social justice causes andpacifism.^{[citation needed]}

In 1903, Sakai established thesocialist organizationHeiminsha, together with Shūsui Kōtoku andUchimura Kanzō. With the start of theRusso-Japanese War,Yorozu Morning News adopted a pro-government stance, and Sakai quit to form the weeklyHeimin Shimbun together with Shūsui Kōtoku, which was critical of the war^[1] and decried the high taxes which the war was causing. It also published a Japanese translation of theCommunist Manifesto in its November 13, 1904, issue. Sakai was sentenced to two months in jail.^[2] Sakai was also a strong supporter of theEsperanto movement, helping create the Japana Esperanto-Instituto in 1906.^{[citation needed]}

In 1906, Sakai became one of the founding members of theJapan Socialist Party. He was arrested in the 1908Red Flag Incident and was sentenced to two years in prison. Following the end of theFirst World War he participated inRousoukai group. In 1922, he became one of the founding members of theJapan Communist Party and was elected to a seat in the Tokyo City Assembly in 1929. Sakai translated many works related to socialism, as well asutopian literature into Japanese. In June 1932, he was admitted to a hospital after an incident ofdomestic violence under suspicion of insanity, and died of acerebral hemorrhage on January 23, 1933. His grave is at the temple ofSōji-ji inTsurumi-ku, Yokohama.^{[citation needed]}

• Japanese dissidence during the Shōwa period

Wikiquote has quotations related toSakai Toshihiko.

• De Lange, William (2023).A History of Japanese Journalism: State of Affairs and Affairs of State. Toyo Press.ISBN 978-94-92722-393.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toToshihiko Sakai.

• e-texts of Sakai's works atAozora Bunko

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• People from Fukuoka Prefecture
• Japanese anti-imperialists
• Japanese Esperantists
• Japanese socialists
• Japanese communists
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