Rice Riots

Japanese: 米騒動 - こめそうどう

Rising rice prices triggered popular riots. There have been three large-scale riots in modern Japan.

[Keiichi Eguchi]

1890

The year 1889 (Meiji 22) was a poor harvest, and in 1890 the price of rice skyrocketed, with the first riots in Toyama City on January 18th, when poor people demanded relief. From April to August, riots by poor people broke out in Tottori City, Niigata Prefecture, Shimonoseki City, Takaoka City, and other places. The largest was the Sado Aikawa riot (June 28th to July 5th), in which about 2,000 miners rose up in revolt, and the military was called in. Afterwards, riots broke out in Fukui, Ehime, Miyagi, and other prefectures.

[Keiichi Eguchi]

1897

The year 1896 (Meiji 29) was a poor harvest, and in 1897 there were also storm, flood and insect damages in various places. From around September, the price of rice rose sharply, and from September to October, there were repeated disturbances among the poor in Iida Town in Nagano Prefecture, Toyama City, Yamagata Prefecture, Niigata Prefecture, and other places.

[Keiichi Eguchi]

1918

The rice riots of that year were the largest public uprisings in Japanese history. The price of rice soared from 1917 to 1918, which was part of the inflation caused by World War I. The fundamental cause was that rice production stagnated under the parasitic landlord system, resulting in a supply shortage, despite the rapid development of capitalism causing a rapid increase in urban population and an increase in demand for rice. In addition, landlords and rice merchants speculated and withheld sales and bought up rice, the Terauchi Masatake cabinet did not take measures to abolish import tariffs on foreign rice for the benefit of landlords and merchants, and the decision to dispatch troops to Siberia led to even more rice buying up. After July 1918, the price of rice skyrocketed abnormally, and the people's hardships and anxiety about their livelihoods deepened, eventually leading to unprecedented riots. The riots can be divided into four periods.

[Keiichi Eguchi]

1st Period

At around 8:30 a.m. on July 23, 1918, in Uozu Town, Shimoniikawa County, Toyama Prefecture, 46 wives and daughters of fishermen gathered on the coast to try to prevent the export of rice to other regions, claiming that the price of rice was rising because of the export. They were dispersed by the police. Two similar incidents occurred in the prefecture by August 2, but were not known outside the prefecture.

[Keiichi Eguchi]

Second Period

On the night of August 3rd of the same year, in Nishimizuhashi Town, Nakaniikawa County, the same prefecture, about 300 wives and daughters of migrant fishermen stormed into a wealthy man and rice shop, pleading for a ban on the export of rice and for it to be sold at a low price, and were dispersed by the police. On the night of the 4th, several hundred women in Higashimizuhashi Town, the same county, went to the mayor, influential people, and a rice shop, pleading for relief and demanding a ban on the export of rice, and the commotion continued into the next day. On the night of the 5th, about 300 women in neighboring Namerikawa Town also appealed to a wealthy man and rice shop for help, but on the 6th a mixed crowd of men and women stormed into the wealthy man's house and started smashing it up. Similar movements spread throughout the prefecture, and the incident in Nishimizuhashi-cho on the 3rd was reported in national newspapers on the 5th or 6th as the "Ecchu Wives Rebellion." Starting with the incident in Ochiai-cho, Maniwa-gun, Okayama Prefecture (now Maniwa City) on the 8th, the unrest spread outside of Toyama Prefecture, with incidents occurring all over Okayama Prefecture, as well as in Wakayama, Kagawa, and Ehime Prefectures.

[Keiichi Eguchi]

Third Period

On the night of August 10th of that year, major riots broke out in both Nagoya and Kyoto, and the situation entered a new phase. In Nagoya, a crowd of 15,000 to 30,000 people gathered in Tsuruma Park, where a speech was given, after which the crowd pushed toward Yoneyamachi and clashed with police. The riots intensified on the 11th and 12th, and the military was finally called in to quell them. In Kyoto, on the night of the 10th, hundreds of discriminated Burakumin stormed into rice shops one after another, forcing them to agree to sell rice at a discount. By the night of the 11th, there had been demands to sell rice at a discount and vandalism throughout the city, leading to the military being called in to quell the riots. After the 11th, even larger-scale riots broke out in Osaka and Kobe, with burning, looting and brawls taking place. The unrest spread to various parts of Kinki, Tokai, Chugoku, and Shikoku, with a major commotion breaking out in Tokyo on the 13th and spreading to other parts of Kanto and Kyushu, reaching its peak around the 13th or 14th.

[Keiichi Eguchi]

4th Period

From mid-August 1918, the main focus of the unrest shifted from urban areas to rural areas, and from the 17th onwards, violent mine riots broke out one after another at Ube Coal Mine in Yamaguchi Prefecture, as well as at other coal mines in the prefecture and in Kitakyushu. The military was called in to quell most of the riots, and in Ube 13 people were shot to death. The unrest came to an end for the time being with the final riot at Manda Coal Mine in Kumamoto Prefecture on September 12th.

The 1918 rice riots lasted for about 50 days, with riots and demonstrations of various sizes occurring in a total of 368 locations, including 38 cities, 153 towns, and 177 villages in one prefecture, three metropolitan areas, and 38 prefectures, excluding the five prefectures of Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Tochigi, and Okinawa. The number of participants is estimated to have reached several million. The government mobilized more than 100,000 troops to 120 locations, and together with police forces, they suppressed the riots. Most of the riots were unorganized and occurred spontaneously at night, and were suppressed one by one. More than 25,000 people were arrested, and more than 8,200 were referred to prosecutors for prosecution. However, the shock of the rice riots forced the Terauchi Cabinet to resign, and a party cabinet was formed with Hara Takashi as prime minister. The rice riots were also the last in a series of popular uprisings since the Hibiya Riots (1905), and as people's awareness of their rights grew, purposeful and organized popular movements such as the labor movement, the peasant movement, the women's movement, the student movement, and the movement for universal suffrage all flourished at once.

[Keiichi Eguchi]

"Inoue Kiyoshi and Watanabe Toru (eds.), "Research on the Rice Riots," 5 volumes (1997, Yuhikaku)" ▽ "Matsuo Takatsune, "The History of the Nation 21: The Trend of Democratic Politics" (1970, Bun'eido)"

[Reference] | Terauchi Masatake Cabinet | Hibiya Riots

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

米価の騰貴を契機とする民衆の暴動。近代日本では大規模なものが3回あった。

［江口圭一］

1890年

1889年（明治22）は凶作で、90年に入ると米価が暴騰し、1月18日富山市で貧民が救助を要求して騒動を起こしたのを最初として、4月から8月にかけ、鳥取市、新潟県下、下関市、高岡市などで貧民の暴動が相次いだ。最大のものは佐渡相川の暴動（6月28日～7月5日）で、鉱夫ら約2000人が蜂起(ほうき)し、軍隊が出動した。その後、福井、愛媛、宮城などの各県下にも騒動が起こった。

［江口圭一］

1897年

1896年（明治29）は不作で、97年も風水害、虫害が各地にあり、9月ごろから米価が急騰し、9月から10月にかけ、長野県飯田町、富山市、山形県下、新潟県下などで貧民の騒動が続発した。

［江口圭一］

1918年

この年の米騒動は日本史上最大規模の民衆暴動であった。1917年（大正6）から18年にかけて米価が高騰したが、これは第一次世界大戦中のインフレの一環であるとともに、資本主義の急速な発展により都市人口が急増し、米の需要が増大したにもかかわらず、寄生地主制下の米の生産が停滞して供給不足に陥ったことが根本的原因であり、さらに地主、米商人が投機を計って売惜しみ、買占めをしたこと、寺内正毅(まさたけ)内閣が、地主、商人の利益のため外米輸入関税撤廃の措置をとらなかったこと、シベリア出兵の決定によりいっそう買占めが行われたこと、などの事情が加わった結果であった。1918年7月以降米価は異常に暴騰し、民衆の生活難と生活不安が深まり、ついに空前の大暴動が引き起こされた。騒動はおよそ4期に区分される。

［江口圭一］

第1期

1918年7月23日午前8時半ごろ、富山県下新川(しもにいかわ)郡魚津(うおづ)町で、米価が騰貴するのは米を他地方に移出するからであるとし、漁民の妻女ら46人が移出を阻止しようと海岸に集合したところを、警察に解散させられた。8月2日にかけ県下で類似の事件が2回起こったが、県外には知られなかった。

［江口圭一］

第2期

同年8月3日夜、同県中新川(なかにいかわ)郡西水橋(にしみずはし)町で、出稼ぎ漁民の妻女ら約300人が資産家、米屋へ押しかけ、米の移出禁止、廉売を嘆願し、警察に解散させられた。4日夜、同郡東水橋町で数百名の女性が町長、有力者、米屋に向かい、救済を請い、米の移出禁止を要求し、騒ぎは翌日に及んだ。5日夜、隣接の滑川(なめりかわ)町でも約300人の女性が資産家、米屋に救助を訴えたが、6日には男女混成の群衆が資産家宅へ押し寄せ、打ちこわしに及んだ。同様の動きは県下各所に広がったが、5日ないし6日付けの全国各紙に3日の西水橋町の事件が「越中(えっちゅう)女房一揆(いっき)」として報じられ、8日岡山県真庭(まにわ)郡落合町（現真庭市）での事件を最初として、騒動は富山県外に波及し、岡山県各地のほか、和歌山県、香川県、愛媛県などで騒動が続発した。

［江口圭一］

第3期

同年8月10日夜、名古屋、京都の両都市で大騒動が発生し、事態は新しい局面に入った。名古屋市では鶴舞(つるま)公園に1万5000～3万の群衆が集まり、演説が行われたのち、米屋町目ざして群衆が押し出し、警官隊と衝突した。騒動は11日、12日にいっそう激化し、ついに軍隊が出動して鎮圧した。京都市では10日夜、被差別部落民数百人が米屋に次々と押しかけ、米の安売りを認めさせたのを皮切りとして、11日夜には全市で安売り強要、打ちこわしが行われ、軍隊が出動、鎮圧にあたった。11日以降大阪市、神戸市でいっそう大規模な暴動が発生し、焼き打ち、略奪、乱闘が繰り広げられた。騒動は近畿、東海、中国、四国の各地に拡大し、13日には東京市で大騒動が起こり、関東各地、九州にも波及、13～14日ごろに絶頂に達した。

［江口圭一］

第4期

騒動は1918年8月中旬以降、都市部から農村部におもな舞台を移し、17日以降は山口県宇部炭鉱をはじめ、同県下および北九州の諸炭鉱に激烈な炭鉱暴動が相次いだ。そのほとんどに軍隊が出動して鎮圧にあたり、宇部では13人が射殺された。騒動は9月12日熊本県万田(まんだ)炭鉱の暴動を最後としていちおう終結した。

　1918年の米騒動は約50日間に及び、青森、岩手、秋田、栃木、沖縄の5県を除く1道3府38県の38市153町177村、計368か所に大小の暴動、示威が発生した。参加人員は数百万人に達するものとみられる。政府は120地点に10万人以上に達する軍隊を出動させ、警察力と相まって騒動を鎮圧した。騒動はほとんどが夜間に自然発生した非組織的なもので、各個に鎮圧され、2万5000人以上が検挙され、8200人以上が検事処分に付された。しかし米騒動の衝撃を受けて寺内内閣は退陣を余儀なくされ、原敬(はらたかし)を首相とする政党内閣が出現した。また米騒動は日比谷焼打事件（1905）以来の一連の民衆暴動の最後のものとなり、民衆の権利意識の高まりのもとに、労働運動、農民運動、女性運動、学生運動、普選運動などの目的意識的、組織的な民衆運動が一斉に開花することとなった。

［江口圭一］

『井上清・渡部徹編『米騒動の研究』全5巻（1997・有斐閣）』▽『松尾尊兌著『国民の歴史21　民本主義の潮流』（1970・文英堂）』

[参照項目] | 寺内正毅内閣 | 日比谷焼打事件

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

<<: Scopimera globosa (rice crab) - Scopimera globosa

>>: Ramón Gómez de la Serna