fbpx
Wikipedia

Taishō era

February 16, 2024

"Taishō" redirects here. For other uses, see Taishō (disambiguation).

The Taishō era (大正時代, Taishō jidai)[taiɕoː dʑidai] ⓘ was a period in the history of Japan dating from 30 July 1912 to 25 December 1926, coinciding with the reign of Emperor Taishō.[1] The new emperor was a sickly man, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen (or genrō) to the Imperial Diet of Japan and the democratic parties. Thus, the era is considered the time of the liberal movement known as Taishō Democracy; it is usually distinguished from the preceding chaotic Meiji era and the following militaristic-driven first part of the Shōwa era.[2]

Taishō
大正
30 July 1912 – 25 December 1926
Emperor Taishō (1900)
LocationJapan
Including
Monarch(s)Taishō
Chronology

Etymology edit

The two kanji characters in Taishō (大正) were from a passage of the Classical Chinese I Ching: 大亨以正 天之道也 (Translated: "Great prevalence is achieved through rectitude, and this is the Dao of Heaven.")[3] The term could be roughly understood as meaning "great rectitude", or "great righteousness".

Meiji legacy edit

 
Emperor Taishō in 1912
 
The Japan Times front page about the coronation of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei (15 September 1915)
 
Map of the Empire of Japan in November 1918

On 30 July 1912, Emperor Meiji died and Crown Prince Yoshihito succeeded to the throne as Emperor of Japan. In his coronation address, the newly enthroned Emperor announced his reign's nengō (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 of Western culture experienced in the Meiji period also continued. Notable artists, such as Kobayashi Kiyochika, adopted Western painting styles while continuing to work in ukiyo-e; others, such as Okakura Kakuzō, kept an interest in traditional Japanese painting. Authors such as Mori 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 the Meiji 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 urban proletariat was developing. Universal male suffrage, 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 the Japan 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 the Taishō political crisis in 1912–13 that interrupted the earlier politics of compromise. When Saionji Kinmochi tried to cut the military budget, the army minister resigned, bringing down the Rikken Seiyūkai cabinet. Both Yamagata Aritomo and Saionji refused to resume office, and the genrō were unable to find a solution. Public outrage over the military manipulation of the cabinet and the recall of Katsura Tarō for a third term led to still more demands for an end to genrō politics. Despite old guard opposition, the conservative forces formed a party of their own in 1913, the Rikken Dōshikai, a party that won a majority in the House over the Seiyūkai in late 1914.

On February 12, 1913, Yamamoto Gonnohyōe succeeded Katsura as prime minister. In April 1914, Ōkuma Shigenobu replaced Yamamoto.

Crown Prince Yoshihito married Sadako Kujō on 10 May 1900. Their coronation took place on November 11, 1915.

World War I and hegemony in China edit

Main article: Japan during World War I
 
Japanese occupation of the Russian city of Khabarovsk during the Russian Civil War, 1919

World War I permitted Japan, which fought on the side of the victorious Allied 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's Shandong and the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall 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 the Twenty-One Demands (Japanese: 対華二十一ヶ条要求; Chinese: 二十一条) to the Government in January 1915. Besides expanding its control over German holdings, Manchuria and Inner 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, widespread anti-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. The Nishihara 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 the Russian Revolution. Wanting to seize the opportunity, the Japanese army planned to occupy Siberia as far west as Lake 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 the Allied expeditionary force sent to Siberia in July 1918 as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.

On October 9, 1916, Terauchi Masatake took over as prime minister from Ōkuma Shigenobu. On November 2, 1917, the Lansing–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.

Japan after World War I: Taishō Democracy edit

 
1920 photo with a view of the Mitsubishi headquarters in Marunouchi, looking towards the Imperial Palace

The postwar era brought Japan unprecedented prosperity.[citation needed] Japan went to the 1919 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 the League of Nations and the peace treaty confirmed the transfer to Japan of Germany's rights in Shandong, 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 a Japanese 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 its bid 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 surviving genrō and the House of Peers, and brought into his cabinet as army minister Tanaka 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 milieu 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 the Peace Preservation Law in 1925, which forbade any change in the political structure or the abolition of private property.

In 1921, during the Interwar period, Japan developed and launched the Hōshō, which was the first purpose-designed aircraft 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 the Kenseikai (憲政会, Constitutional Government Association) and the Seiyū Hontō (政友本党, True Seiyūkai) to merge as the Rikken Minseitō (立憲民政党, Constitutional Democratic Party) in 1927. The Rikken Minseitō platform was committed to the parliamentary system, democratic politics, and world peace. Thereafter, until 1932, the Seiyūkai and the Rikken Minseitō alternated in power.

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 the American 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 upon Rikken Minseitō prime minister Osachi 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.

Communism and socialism and the Japanese response edit

The victory of the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1922 and their hopes for a world revolution led to the establishment of the Comintern. The Comintern realized the importance of Japan in achieving successful revolution in East Asia and actively worked to form the Japanese 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 the Toranomon Incident when a radical student under the influence of Japanese Marxist thinkers tried to assassinate Prince Regent Hirohito. The 1925 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 the General 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 of right-wing politics and conservative militarism since the inception of the Meiji Restoration, contributing greatly to the pro-war politics of the 1870s. Disenchanted former samurai had established patriotic societies and intelligence-gathering organizations, such as the Gen'yōsha (玄洋社, "Black Ocean Society", founded in 1881) and its later offshoot, the Kokuryūkai (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 of World 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.

Taishō foreign policy edit

 
Kofu city hall building of the second. Taken in 1918.

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-year Siberian 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 the zaibatsu, 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 in military diplomacy was the Washington 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 into China proper, and joined the United States, Britain, and France in encouraging Chinese self-development.

In the Four-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 the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The Washington 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 the Nine-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 from Shandong, relinquishing all but purely economic rights there, and to evacuate its troops from Siberia.

End of the Taishō Democracy edit

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 the Meiji Constitution, particularly regarding the position of the Emperor in relation to the constitution.[citation needed]

Timeline edit

Equivalent calendars edit

By coincidence, Taishō year numbering just happens to be the same as that of the Minguo calendar of the Republic of China, and the Juche calendar of North Korea.

Conversion table edit

To convert any Gregorian calendar year between 1912 and 1926 to Japanese 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

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ HMS Argus pre-dated Hōshō and had a long landing deck, but was designed and initially built as an ocean liner. The first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be laid down was HMS Hermes in 1918 but she was completed after Hōshō.

References edit

  1. ^ Nussbaum & Roth 2005, p. 929 at Google Books.
  2. ^ Hoffman, Michael (July 29, 2012), "The Taisho Era: When modernity ruled Japan's masses", The Japan Times, p. 7.
  3. ^ Lynn, Richard John (1994). The Classic of Changes. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08294-0.
  4. ^ Bowman 2000, p. 149.
  5. ^ Dower, John W (1999), Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, New York: W. W. Norton & Co., p. 21.
  6. ^ Hoffman, Michael, "'Taisho Democracy' pays the ultimate price", The Japan Times, July 29, 2012, p. 8.
  7. ^ Polmar, Norman (1 September 2006). Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events, Volume I: 1909-1945. Potomac Books, Inc. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-57488-663-4. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  8. ^ Nakamura, T. (1997). "Depression, Recovery, and War, 1920-1945". In K. Yamamura (ed.). The Economic Emergence of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 116–158. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511572814.004. ISBN 9780521571173.

Bibliography edit

  • Benesch, Oleg (December 2018). "Castles and the Militarisation of Urban Society in Imperial Japan" (PDF). Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 28: 107–134. doi:10.1017/S0080440118000063. ISSN 0080-4401. S2CID 158403519.
  • Bowman, John Stewart (2000). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231500043.
  • Dickinson, Frederick R. War and National Reinvention: Japan in the Great War, 1914-1919 (Harvard Univ Asia Center, 1999).
  • Duus, Peter, ed. The Cambridge History of Japan: The Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press, 1989).
  • Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric; Roth, Käthe (2005), Japan Encyclopedia, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC 58053128. Louis-Frédéric is a pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Authority File, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, archived from the original on May 24, 2012.
  • Strachan, Hew. The First World War: Volume I: To Arms (Oxford University Press, 2003) 455-94.
  • Takeuchi, Tatsuji (1935). War and Diplomacy in the Japanese Empire online free
  • Vogel, Ezra F. (2019). China and Japan: Facing History excerpt

Attribution

External links edit

  • Meiji Taisho 1868-1926 (in Japanese)
Preceded by
Meiji (明治)
 Era of Japan
Taishō (大正)
30 July 1912 – 25 December 1926 		Succeeded by
Shōwa (昭和)

February 16, 2024
taishō, taishō, redirects, here, other, uses, taishō, disambiguation, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources. Taishō redirects here For other uses see Taishō disambiguation This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Taishō era news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Taishō era 大正時代 Taishō jidai taiɕoː dʑidai was a period in the history of Japan dating from 30 July 1912 to 25 December 1926 coinciding with the reign of Emperor Taishō 1 The new emperor was a sickly man which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen or genrō to the Imperial Diet of Japan and the democratic parties Thus the era is considered the time of the liberal movement known as Taishō Democracy it is usually distinguished from the preceding chaotic Meiji era and the following militaristic driven first part of the Shōwa era 2 Taishō大正30 July 1912 25 December 1926Emperor Taishō 1900 LocationJapanIncludingWorld War I Allied intervention in the Russian Civil WarMonarch s TaishōChronology Meiji Shōwa Contents 1 Etymology 2 Meiji legacy 3 World War I and hegemony in China 4 Japan after World War I Taishō Democracy 5 Communism and socialism and the Japanese response 6 Taishō foreign policy 7 End of the Taishō Democracy 8 Timeline 9 Equivalent calendars 10 Conversion table 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 Bibliography 15 External linksEtymology editThe two kanji characters in Taishō 大正 were from a passage of the Classical Chinese I Ching 大亨以正 天之道也 Translated Great prevalence is achieved through rectitude and this is the Dao of Heaven 3 The term could be roughly understood as meaning great rectitude or great righteousness Meiji legacy edit nbsp Emperor Taishō in 1912 nbsp The Japan Times front page about the coronation of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei 15 September 1915 nbsp Map of the Empire of Japan in November 1918On 30 July 1912 Emperor Meiji died and Crown Prince Yoshihito succeeded to the throne as Emperor of Japan In his coronation address the newly enthroned Emperor announced his reign s nengō 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 of Western culture experienced in the Meiji period also continued Notable artists such as Kobayashi Kiyochika adopted Western painting styles while continuing to work in ukiyo e others such as Okakura Kakuzō kept an interest in traditional Japanese painting Authors such as Mori 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 the Meiji 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 urban proletariat was developing Universal male suffrage 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 the Japan 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 the Taishō political crisis in 1912 13 that interrupted the earlier politics of compromise When Saionji Kinmochi tried to cut the military budget the army minister resigned bringing down the Rikken Seiyukai cabinet Both Yamagata Aritomo and Saionji refused to resume office and the genrō were unable to find a solution Public outrage over the military manipulation of the cabinet and the recall of Katsura Tarō for a third term led to still more demands for an end to genrō politics Despite old guard opposition the conservative forces formed a party of their own in 1913 the Rikken Dōshikai a party that won a majority in the House over the Seiyukai in late 1914 On February 12 1913 Yamamoto Gonnohyōe succeeded Katsura as prime minister In April 1914 Ōkuma Shigenobu replaced Yamamoto Crown Prince Yoshihito married Sadako Kujō on 10 May 1900 Their coronation took place on November 11 1915 World War I and hegemony in China editMain article Japan during World War I nbsp Japanese occupation of the Russian city of Khabarovsk during the Russian Civil War 1919World War I permitted Japan which fought on the side of the victorious Allied 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 s Shandong and the Mariana Caroline and Marshall 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 the Twenty One Demands Japanese 対華二十一ヶ条要求 Chinese 二十一条 to the Government in January 1915 Besides expanding its control over German holdings Manchuria and Inner 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 widespread anti 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 The Nishihara 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 the Russian Revolution Wanting to seize the opportunity the Japanese army planned to occupy Siberia as far west as Lake 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 the Allied expeditionary force sent to Siberia in July 1918 as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War On October 9 1916 Terauchi Masatake took over as prime minister from Ōkuma Shigenobu On November 2 1917 the Lansing 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 Japan after World War I Taishō Democracy edit nbsp 1920 photo with a view of the Mitsubishi headquarters in Marunouchi looking towards the Imperial PalaceThe postwar era brought Japan unprecedented prosperity citation needed Japan went to the 1919 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 the League of Nations and the peace treaty confirmed the transfer to Japan of Germany s rights in Shandong 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 a Japanese 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 its bid 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 protege of Saionji and a major influence in the prewar Seiyukai 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 surviving genrō and the House of Peers and brought into his cabinet as army minister Tanaka 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 Seiyukai 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 Seiyukai majority but barely so In the political milieu 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 the Peace Preservation Law in 1925 which forbade any change in the political structure or the abolition of private property In 1921 during the Interwar period Japan developed and launched the Hōshō which was the first purpose designed aircraft 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 the Kenseikai 憲政会 Constitutional Government Association and the Seiyu Hontō 政友本党 True Seiyukai to merge as the Rikken Minseitō 立憲民政党 Constitutional Democratic Party in 1927 The Rikken Minseitō platform was committed to the parliamentary system democratic politics and world peace Thereafter until 1932 the Seiyukai and the Rikken Minseitō alternated in power 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 the American 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 upon Rikken Minseitō prime minister Osachi 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 Communism and socialism and the Japanese response editThe victory of the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1922 and their hopes for a world revolution led to the establishment of the Comintern The Comintern realized the importance of Japan in achieving successful revolution in East Asia and actively worked to form the Japanese 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 the Toranomon Incident when a radical student under the influence of Japanese Marxist thinkers tried to assassinate Prince Regent Hirohito The 1925 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 the General 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 of right wing politics and conservative militarism since the inception of the Meiji Restoration contributing greatly to the pro war politics of the 1870s Disenchanted former samurai had established patriotic societies and intelligence gathering organizations such as the Gen yōsha 玄洋社 Black Ocean Society founded in 1881 and its later offshoot the Kokuryukai 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 of World 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 Taishō foreign policy edit nbsp Kofu city hall building of the second Taken in 1918 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 year Siberian 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 the zaibatsu 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 in military diplomacy was the Washington 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 into China proper and joined the United States Britain and France in encouraging Chinese self development In the Four 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 the Anglo Japanese Alliance The Washington 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 the Nine 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 from Shandong relinquishing all but purely economic rights there and to evacuate its troops from Siberia End of the Taishō Democracy editOverall 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 the Meiji Constitution particularly regarding the position of the Emperor in relation to the constitution citation needed Timeline edit1912 The Crown Prince Yoshihito assumes the throne because of his father Emperor Meiji s death July 30 General Katsura Tarō becomes prime minister for a third term May 26 1913 Katsura is forced to resign and Admiral Yamamoto Gonnohyōe becomes prime minister February 20 1914 Ōkuma Shigenobu becomes prime minister for a second term April 16 Japan declares war on German Empire joining the Allies side of World War I August 23 1915 Japan sends the Twenty One Demands to China January 18 The Sankebetsu brown bear incident a case so bad that went to the Imperial Palace occurred in Tomamae Hokkaido December 9 14 1916 Terauchi Masatake becomes prime minister October 9 1917 Lansing Ishii Agreement goes into effect November 2 1918 20 Spanish flu pandemic began to devastate Japan which killed 400 000 people 1918 Siberian intervention launched July Hara Takashi becomes prime minister September 29 1919 March 1st Movement begins against Japanese colonial rule in Korea March 1 1920 Japan helps found the League of Nations 1921 Prime Minister Hara is assassinated and he is succeeded by Takahashi Korekiyo November 4 Crown Prince Hirohito becomes regent because his father Emperor Taishō has an illness November 29 Four Power Treaty is signed December 13 1922 Five Power Naval Disarmament Treaty is signed February 6 Admiral Katō Tomosaburō becomes prime minister June 12 Japan withdraws troops from Siberia August 28 1923 The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo September 1 Yamamoto becomes prime minister for a second term September 2 1924 Kiyoura Keigo becomes prime minister January 7 Crown Prince Hirohito the future Emperor Shōwa marries Princess Nagako of Kuni the future Empress Kōjun January 26 Katō Takaaki becomes prime minister June 11 1925 General Election Law was passed all men above age 25 gained the right to vote May 5 Besides Peace Preservation Law is passed Hirohito s first issue Shigeko Princess Teru is born December 9 1926 Wakatsuki Reijirō becomes prime minister 30 January Emperor Taishō dies he is succeeded by his eldest son Crown Prince Hirohito December 25 Equivalent calendars editBy coincidence Taishō year numbering just happens to be the same as that of the Minguo calendar of the Republic of China and the Juche calendar of North Korea Conversion table editTo convert any Gregorian calendar year between 1912 and 1926 to Japanese 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 15I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XVAD 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926MCMXII MCMXIII MCMXIV MCMXV MCMXVI MCMXVII MCMXVIII MCMXIX MCMXX MCMXXI MCMXXII MCMXXIII MCMXXIV MCMXXV MCMXXVISee also editTaishō RomanNotes edit HMS Argus pre dated Hōshō and had a long landing deck but was designed and initially built as an ocean liner The first purpose designed aircraft carrier to be laid down was HMS Hermes in 1918 but she was completed after Hōshō References edit Nussbaum amp Roth 2005 p 929 at Google Books Hoffman Michael July 29 2012 The Taisho Era When modernity ruled Japan s masses The Japan Times p 7 Lynn Richard John 1994 The Classic of Changes New York Columbia University Press ISBN 0 231 08294 0 Bowman 2000 p 149 Dower John W 1999 Embracing Defeat Japan in the Wake of World War II New York W W Norton amp Co p 21 Hoffman Michael Taisho Democracy pays the ultimate price The Japan Times July 29 2012 p 8 Polmar Norman 1 September 2006 Aircraft Carriers A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events Volume I 1909 1945 Potomac Books Inc p 35 ISBN 978 1 57488 663 4 Retrieved 4 September 2023 Nakamura T 1997 Depression Recovery and War 1920 1945 In K Yamamura ed The Economic Emergence of Modern Japan Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 116 158 doi 10 1017 CBO9780511572814 004 ISBN 9780521571173 Bibliography editBenesch Oleg December 2018 Castles and the Militarisation of Urban Society in Imperial Japan PDF Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 28 107 134 doi 10 1017 S0080440118000063 ISSN 0080 4401 S2CID 158403519 Bowman John Stewart 2000 Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture New York Columbia University Press ISBN 9780231500043 Dickinson Frederick R War and National Reinvention Japan in the Great War 1914 1919 Harvard Univ Asia Center 1999 Duus Peter ed The Cambridge History of Japan The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 1989 Nussbaum Louis Frederic Roth Kathe 2005 Japan Encyclopedia Cambridge Harvard University Press ISBN 978 0 674 01753 5 OCLC 58053128 Louis Frederic is a pseudonym of Louis Frederic Nussbaum see Authority File Deutsche Nationalbibliothek archived from the original on May 24 2012 Strachan Hew The First World War Volume I To Arms Oxford University Press 2003 455 94 Takeuchi Tatsuji 1935 War and Diplomacy in the Japanese Empire online free Vogel Ezra F 2019 China and Japan Facing History excerptAttribution nbsp This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Japan Country Studies Federal Research Division External links editMeiji Taisho 1868 1926 in Japanese Preceded byMeiji 明治 Era of JapanTaishō 大正 30 July 1912 25 December 1926 Succeeded byShōwa 昭和 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Taishō era amp oldid 1207751251, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.