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This article is missing information about the merging of all political parties into the association before the 1942 Japanese general election, military influence and lengthier comparisons to the Nazi Party and National Fascist Party. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(March 2021)
The Imperial Rule Assistance Association (Japanese: 大政翼贊會/大政翼賛会, Hepburn: Taisei Yokusankai), or Imperial Aid Association, was the Empire of Japan's ruling organization during much of World War II. It was created by Prime MinisterFumimaro Konoe on 12 October 1940, to promote the goals of his Shintaisei ("New Order") movement. It evolved into a "statist" rulingpolitical party which aimed at removing the sectionalism in the politics and economics in the Empire of Japan to create a totalitarianone-party state, in order to maximize the efficiency of Japan's total war effort in China.[4] When the organization was launched officially, Konoe was hailed as a "political savior" of a nation in chaos; however, internal divisions soon appeared.
Establishment of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association
Imperial Rule Assistance Association cadres, 1940
Based on recommendations by the Shōwa Kenkyūkai (Shōwa Research Association), Konoe originally conceived of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association as a reformist political party to overcome the deep-rooted differences and political cliques between bureaucrats, politicians and the military. During the summer of 1937, Konoe appointed 37 members chosen from a broad political spectrum to a preparatory committee which met in Karuizawa, Nagano. The committee included Konoe's political colleagues Fumio Gotō, Count Yoriyasu Arima and entrepreneur and right-wing spokesman Fusanosuke Kuhara. A radical wing of the military was represented by Kingoro Hashimoto, while the traditionalist military wings were represented by Senjūrō Hayashi, Heisuke Yanagawa and Nobuyuki Abe.
Konoe proposed originally that the Imperial Rule Assistance Association be organized along national syndicalist lines, with new members assigned to branches based on occupation, which would then develop channels for mass participation of the common population to "assist with the Imperial Rule".[5]
However, from the start, there was no consensus in a common cause, as the leadership council represented all ends of the political spectrum, and in the end, the party was organized along geographic lines, following the existing political sub-divisions. Therefore, all local government leaders at each level of village, town, city and prefectural government automatically received the equivalent position within their local Imperial Rule Assistance Association branch.[6]
Labor unions were replaced by the Nation Service Draft Ordinance, which empowered the government to draft civilian workers into critical war industries. Society was mobilized and indoctrinated through the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement, which organized patriotic events and mass rallies, and promoted slogans such as "Yamato-damashii" (Japanese spirit) and "Hakkō ichiu" (All the world under one roof) to support Japanese militarism. This was urged to "restore the spirit and virtues of old Japan".[7]
Some objections to it came on the grounds that kokutai, imperial polity, already required all imperial subjects to support imperial rule.[8]
In addition to drumming up support for the ongoing wars in China and in the Pacific, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association helped maintain public order and provided certain public services via the tonarigumi neighborhood association program.[9] It also played a role in increasing productivity, monitoring rationing, and organizing civil defense.
The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was also militarized, with its members donning khaki-colored uniforms. In the last period of the conflict, the membership received military training and was projected to integrate with the Volunteer Fighting Corps in case of the anticipated Allied invasion.
Development
As soon as October 1940, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association systemized and formalized the Tonarigumi, a nationwide system of neighborhood associations. The 6 November 1940 issue of Shashin Shūhō (Photographic Weekly Report) explained the purpose of this infrastructure:
The Taisei Yokusankai movement has already turned on the switch for rebuilding a new Japan and completing a new Great East Asian order which, writ large, is the construction of a new world order. The Taisei Yokusankai is, broadly speaking, the New Order movement which will, in a word, place One Hundred Million into one body under this new organisation that will conduct all of our energies and abilities for the sake of the nation. Aren't we all mentally prepared to be members of this new organization and, as one adult to another, without holding our superiors in awe or being preoccupied with the past, cast aside all private concerns in order to perform public service? Under the Taisei Yokusankai are regional town, village, and tonarigumi; let's convene council meetings and advance the activities of this organization.[10]
Imperial Rule Assistance Association election speech, 1942
In February 1942, all women's associations were merged into the Greater Japan Women's Association which joined the Imperial Rule Assistance Association in May. Every adult woman in Japan, excepting the under twenty and unmarried, was forced to join the Association.[11]
In March 1942, Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō attempted to eliminate the influence of elected politicians by establishing an officially sponsored election nomination commission, which restricted non-government-sanctioned candidates from the ballot.[13] After the 1942 Japanese General Election, all members of Diet were required to join the Imperial Rule Assistance Political Association (Yokusan Seijikai), which effectively made Japan a one-party state.
The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was formally dissolved on 13 June 1945, around three months before the end of World War II in the Pacific Theater. During the Allied occupation of Japan, the American authoritiespurged thousands of government leaders from public life for having been members of the Association. Later, many of them returned to prominent roles in Japanese politics after the end of the occupation.
^Baker, David (June 2006). "The political economy of fascism: Myth or reality, or myth and reality?". New Political Economy. 11 (2): 227–250. doi:10.1080/13563460600655581. S2CID 155046186.
^McClain, James L. (2002). Japan: A Modern History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. pp. 454. ISBN0393041565. Conservatives such as Hiranuma Kiichiro, who served as prime minister for eight months in 1939, objected that the proposed totalitarian IRAA was nothing but a "new shogunate" that would usurp the power of the emperor's government, and Japanists declared that the national polity, the hallowed kokutai, already united the emperor with subjects who naturally fulfilled their sacred obligation to "assist imperial rule." On a more mundane plane, senior officials within the Home Ministry feared the loss of bureaucratic turf and complained that the proposed network of occupationally based units would interfere with local administration at a particularly crucial time in the nation's history.
^Brandon, James R., ed. (2009). Kabuki's Forgotten War: 1931-1945. University of Hawaii Press. p. 113. ISBN9780824832001. .2 All existing political parties "voluntarily" dissolved themselves, replaced by a single authorized political body, the ultranationalist Imperial Rule Assistance Association.
^Wolferen, The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation, page 351
^Sims, Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868–2000, p. 220
^Shillony, Ben-Ami (1981). Politics and Culture in Wartime Japan. Oxford University Press. pp. 23–33, 71–75. ISBN0-19-820260-1.
^Stockwin, Governing Japan: Divided Politics in a Major Economy, page 22
References
Aldus, Christop (1999). The Police in Occupation Japan: Control, Corruption and Resistance to Reform. Routledge. ISBN0-415-14526-0.
Duus, Peter (2001). The Cambridge History of Japan. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN0-312-23915-7.
Sims, Richard (2001). Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868–2000. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN0-312-23915-7.
Stockwin, JAA (1990). Governing Japan: Divided Politics in a Major Economy. Vintage. ISBN0-679-72802-3.
Wolferen, Karel J (1990). The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation. Vintage. ISBN0-679-72802-3.
External links
Media related to Imperial Rule Assistance Association at Wikimedia Commons
February 20, 2023
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This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese September 2019 Click show for important translation instructions View a machine translated version of the Japanese article Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate rather than simply copy pasting machine translated text into the English Wikipedia Consider adding a topic to this template there are already 3 319 articles in the main category and specifying topic will aid in categorization Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low quality If possible verify the text with references provided in the foreign language article You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at ja 大政翼賛会 see its history for attribution You should also add the template Translated ja 大政翼賛会 to the talk page For more guidance see Wikipedia Translation This article is missing information about the merging of all political parties into the association before the 1942 Japanese general election military influence and lengthier comparisons to the Nazi Party and National Fascist Party Please expand the article to include this information Further details may exist on the talk page March 2021 The Imperial Rule Assistance Association Japanese 大政翼贊會 大政翼賛会 Hepburn Taisei Yokusankai or Imperial Aid Association was the Empire of Japan s ruling organization during much of World War II It was created by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on 12 October 1940 to promote the goals of his Shintaisei New Order movement It evolved into a statist ruling political party which aimed at removing the sectionalism in the politics and economics in the Empire of Japan to create a totalitarian one party state in order to maximize the efficiency of Japan s total war effort in China 4 When the organization was launched officially Konoe was hailed as a political savior of a nation in chaos however internal divisions soon appeared Imperial Rule Assistance Association 大政翼贊會 Taisei YokusankaiPresidentFumimaro Konoe 1940 1941 Hideki Tojo 1941 1944 Kuniaki Koiso 1944 1945 Kantarō Suzuki 1945 Deputy PresidentHeisuke Yanagawa 1941 Kisaburo Ando 1941 1943 Fumio Gotō 1943 1944 Taketora Ogata 1944 1945 Founded12 October 1940 82 years ago 12 October 1940 Dissolved13 June 1945 77 years ago 13 June 1945 Merger ofSeiyukai Minseitō KD STHeadquartersMarunouchi Chiyoda Ward Tokyo Empire of JapanNewspaperTaisei YokusanYouth wingGreater Japan Youth 大日本靑少年團 Dai nippon Seishōnendan Women s wingGreater Japan Women s Association 大日本婦人會 Dai nippon Fujinkai Paramilitary wingYokusan SonendanParliamentary groupImperial Rule Assistance Political AssociationIdeologyShōwa statismTotalitarianism 1 2 Japanese imperialismJapanese militarismJapanese ultranationalism 3 National conservatismPan AsianismReligionState ShintōColours Red WhitePolitics of JapanPolitical partiesElectionsImperial Rule Assistance AssociationJapanese nameKanaたいせいよくさんかいKyujitai大政翼贊會Shinjitai大政翼賛会TranscriptionsRevised HepburnTaiseiyokusankai Contents 1 Origins 2 Ideals 3 Development 4 Leaders 5 Popular support and electoral results 6 Notes 7 References 8 External linksOrigins Edit Establishment of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association Imperial Rule Assistance Association cadres 1940 Based on recommendations by the Shōwa Kenkyukai Shōwa Research Association Konoe originally conceived of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association as a reformist political party to overcome the deep rooted differences and political cliques between bureaucrats politicians and the military During the summer of 1937 Konoe appointed 37 members chosen from a broad political spectrum to a preparatory committee which met in Karuizawa Nagano The committee included Konoe s political colleagues Fumio Gotō Count Yoriyasu Arima and entrepreneur and right wing spokesman Fusanosuke Kuhara A radical wing of the military was represented by Kingoro Hashimoto while the traditionalist military wings were represented by Senjurō Hayashi Heisuke Yanagawa and Nobuyuki Abe Konoe proposed originally that the Imperial Rule Assistance Association be organized along national syndicalist lines with new members assigned to branches based on occupation which would then develop channels for mass participation of the common population to assist with the Imperial Rule 5 However from the start there was no consensus in a common cause as the leadership council represented all ends of the political spectrum and in the end the party was organized along geographic lines following the existing political sub divisions Therefore all local government leaders at each level of village town city and prefectural government automatically received the equivalent position within their local Imperial Rule Assistance Association branch 6 Ideals Edit Celebrations on founding of the IRAA Prior to creation of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association Konoe had already passed the National Mobilization Law which effectively nationalized strategic industries the news media and labor unions in preparation for total war with China Labor unions were replaced by the Nation Service Draft Ordinance which empowered the government to draft civilian workers into critical war industries Society was mobilized and indoctrinated through the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement which organized patriotic events and mass rallies and promoted slogans such as Yamato damashii Japanese spirit and Hakkō ichiu All the world under one roof to support Japanese militarism This was urged to restore the spirit and virtues of old Japan 7 Some objections to it came on the grounds that kokutai imperial polity already required all imperial subjects to support imperial rule 8 In addition to drumming up support for the ongoing wars in China and in the Pacific the Imperial Rule Assistance Association helped maintain public order and provided certain public services via the tonarigumi neighborhood association program 9 It also played a role in increasing productivity monitoring rationing and organizing civil defense The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was also militarized with its members donning khaki colored uniforms In the last period of the conflict the membership received military training and was projected to integrate with the Volunteer Fighting Corps in case of the anticipated Allied invasion Development EditAs soon as October 1940 the Imperial Rule Assistance Association systemized and formalized the Tonarigumi a nationwide system of neighborhood associations The 6 November 1940 issue of Shashin Shuhō Photographic Weekly Report explained the purpose of this infrastructure The Taisei Yokusankai movement has already turned on the switch for rebuilding a new Japan and completing a new Great East Asian order which writ large is the construction of a new world order The Taisei Yokusankai is broadly speaking the New Order movement which will in a word place One Hundred Million into one body under this new organisation that will conduct all of our energies and abilities for the sake of the nation Aren t we all mentally prepared to be members of this new organization and as one adult to another without holding our superiors in awe or being preoccupied with the past cast aside all private concerns in order to perform public service Under the Taisei Yokusankai are regional town village and tonarigumi let s convene council meetings and advance the activities of this organization 10 Imperial Rule Assistance Association election speech 1942 In February 1942 all women s associations were merged into the Greater Japan Women s Association which joined the Imperial Rule Assistance Association in May Every adult woman in Japan excepting the under twenty and unmarried was forced to join the Association 11 Likewise in June all youth organizations were merged into the Greater Japan Imperial Rule Assistance Youth Corps 翼賛青年団 Yokusan Sonendan based on the model of the German Sturmabteilung stormtroopers 12 In March 1942 Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō attempted to eliminate the influence of elected politicians by establishing an officially sponsored election nomination commission which restricted non government sanctioned candidates from the ballot 13 After the 1942 Japanese General Election all members of Diet were required to join the Imperial Rule Assistance Political Association Yokusan Seijikai which effectively made Japan a one party state The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was formally dissolved on 13 June 1945 around three months before the end of World War II in the Pacific Theater During the Allied occupation of Japan the American authorities purged thousands of government leaders from public life for having been members of the Association Later many of them returned to prominent roles in Japanese politics after the end of the occupation Leaders EditNo Name Period Image1 Fumimaro Konoe 1940 1941 2 Hideki Tojo 1941 1944 3 Kuniaki Koiso 1944 1945 4 Kantarō Suzuki 1945 1945 Popular support and electoral results EditHouse of RepresentativesElection year Total seats 1942 381 466Notes Edit Baker David June 2006 The political economy of fascism Myth or reality or myth and reality New Political Economy 11 2 227 250 doi 10 1080 13563460600655581 S2CID 155046186 McClain James L 2002 Japan A Modern History New York W W Norton amp Company Inc pp 454 ISBN 0393041565 Conservatives such as Hiranuma Kiichiro who served as prime minister for eight months in 1939 objected that the proposed totalitarian IRAA was nothing but a new shogunate that would usurp the power of the emperor s government and Japanists declared that the national polity the hallowed kokutai already united the emperor with subjects who naturally fulfilled their sacred obligation to assist imperial rule On a more mundane plane senior officials within the Home Ministry feared the loss of bureaucratic turf and complained that the proposed network of occupationally based units would interfere with local administration at a particularly crucial time in the nation s history Brandon James R ed 2009 Kabuki s Forgotten War 1931 1945 University of Hawaii Press p 113 ISBN 9780824832001 2 All existing political parties voluntarily dissolved themselves replaced by a single authorized political body the ultranationalist Imperial Rule Assistance Association Wolferen The Enigma of Japanese Power People and Politics in a Stateless Nation page 351 Sims Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868 2000 p 220 Duus The Cambridge History of Japan page 146 Edwin P Hoyt Japan s War p 189 ISBN 0 07 030612 5 James L McClain Japan A Modern History p 454 ISBN 0 393 04156 5 Aldus The Police in Occupation Japan Control Corruption and Resistance to Reform page 36 David C Earhart Certain Victory M E Sharpe 2008 p 142 citing Shashin Shuhō Modern Japan in archives the Yokusan System http www ndl go jp modern e cha4 description15 html Shillony Ben Ami 1981 Politics and Culture in Wartime Japan Oxford University Press pp 23 33 71 75 ISBN 0 19 820260 1 Stockwin Governing Japan Divided Politics in a Major Economy page 22References EditAldus Christop 1999 The Police in Occupation Japan Control Corruption and Resistance to Reform Routledge ISBN 0 415 14526 0 Duus Peter 2001 The Cambridge History of Japan Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 0 312 23915 7 Sims Richard 2001 Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868 2000 Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 0 312 23915 7 Stockwin JAA 1990 Governing Japan Divided Politics in a Major Economy Vintage ISBN 0 679 72802 3 Wolferen Karel J 1990 The Enigma of Japanese Power People and Politics in a Stateless Nation Vintage ISBN 0 679 72802 3 External links Edit Media related to Imperial Rule Assistance Association at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Imperial Rule Assistance Association amp oldid 1138756018, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
