Kawamata Incident

Japanese: 川俣事件 - かわまたじけん

...The victims launched various petitions, seeking national subsidies for town and village expenses, a continued lease exemption, constitutional protection of life, and restoration of the affected areas, but most of their petitions were rejected at the county or prefectural level.
[The Fall of Yanaka Village]
In February 1900, the victims carried out their fourth "oshirashi" and were subjected to a violent crackdown by police in Kawamata on the north bank of the Tone River (the Kawamata Incident). 68 people were put on trial for charges including assembling criminals, and 51 of them were indicted.

From [Mine Damage]

… The first large-scale confrontation was the Ashio Copper Mine Pollution Incident, which was caused by the massive flooding of the Watarase River in 1890, which resulted in the outflow of large amounts of copper slag from the mine, causing damage to crops and other things. The farmers resorted to a tactic known as "oshidashi," which involved marching en masse to Tokyo to petition the farmers. However, in February 1900, the Kawamata Incident occurred, during which many farmers' leaders were arrested, and the farmers' voices were suppressed. In 1901, Tanaka Shozo, a member of the House of Representatives from Tochigi Prefecture, resigned from his position and ran to the carriage of Emperor Meiji with a letter of appeal calling for the suspension of mining. This incident, along with the Kawamata Incident, made the Ashio Copper Mine Pollution Incident a major social issue. …

*Some of the terms used in reference to the Kawamata Incident are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…被害民は町村費国庫補助，免租継年期，憲法による生命保護，被害地復旧など多様な請願運動を展開したが，大部分は郡や県段階で却下された。
［谷中村の滅亡］
　被害民は1900年2月第4回目の〈押出し〉を決行し，利根川北岸の川俣で警官隊の大弾圧を受けた(川俣事件)。68名が兇徒聚集罪などで予審に付され，うち51名が起訴された。…

【鉱害】より

…　最初の大規模な対決となった足尾銅山における足尾鉱毒事件は，1890年の渡良瀬川の大洪水で銅製錬後の鉱滓が大量に流出したことによって顕著となった農作物などの被害をめぐるものであり，農民側は〈押出し〉と呼ばれた大挙上京請願戦術などをとった。しかし，1900年2月，押出しの途中で農民の指導者が多数逮捕されるという川俣事件が起こり，農民の声は押さえ込まれてしまった。栃木県選出の衆議院議員田中正造は01年に議員を辞し，明治天皇の馬車に鉱業停止を訴えた直訴状をかかげて駆けより，このできごとと川俣事件によって足尾鉱毒事件は一大社会問題となった。…

※「川俣事件」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について | 情報

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