Veteran - Zaigōgunjin

A system established to maintain reserve forces in the Japanese military conscription system. After training at the barracks for a certain period of time, those who were discharged were transferred to the reserves so that they could be called up in the event of an emergency even after returning home. Specifically, it was a common name for those in the military service categories of reserve, reserve service, replacement service, and national service. This common name, along with terms such as "local (reserve) soldiers," began to appear around the time of the enactment of the Army Conscription Ordinance in 1886 (Meiji 19) in notices and instructions from local government agencies regarding the monitoring and supervision of personnel transfers, meetings, education, and conscription of returning soldiers, and gradually came into general use after the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95).

The reservists were under daily supervision by the regimental district headquarters and the military affairs section of the city, town, and village office, and in peacetime, they were required to perform duties such as duty drills (review of military training) and brief roll calls (gathering at a convenient designated place for roll calls for inspections such as personnel transfers). From the late 1880s, reservists in various regions organized their own groups with the aim of preparing for conscription and reviewing military training, under the guidance and assistance of local administrative agencies. These groups were called "reserved military organizations (associations)" and so on, and after the Sino-Japanese War, they began to aim to establish and operate them on their own, but after the Russo-Japanese War, they were integrated by the military, which had grown into a political force, and in November 1910 (Meiji 43), the Imperial Reservist Association was established. The purpose of this association was to review military training and provide mutual assistance, but it also played a role in indoctrination and control of the people as the military's political arm.

[Yoshinobu Endo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本軍隊の徴兵制度において予備兵力保有のために設けられた制度。兵営で一定期間訓練された者が、除隊後に予備役に編入され、帰郷後も有事の際には召集できるように設けられたものである。具体的には兵役区分としての予備役、後備役および補充兵役と国民兵役にある者を通称した。この通称は、「在郷（予備後備）兵」などの呼称とともに、1886年（明治19）の陸軍召集条例制定前後から、帰郷兵の人事異動や集会、教育と召集などの監視、監督に関する地方行政機関の通牒(つうちょう)、訓令などにみえるようになり、日清(にっしん)戦争（1894～95）後にしだいに一般に流布するようになった。

　在郷軍人は、連隊区司令部や市町村役場兵事係から日常的な監視を受け、平時には、勤務演習（軍隊教育の復習）と簡閲点呼（人事異動などの査閲のために便宜の指定地に集合し、点呼を受ける）などの義務を課せられた。各地の在郷軍人は、1880年代後半から、地方行政機関の指導と援助のもとに、召集準備や軍隊教育の復習などを目的にして自己の団体を組織した。これらの団体は「在郷軍人団（会）」などの名称をもち、日清戦争後には自力でその設立と運営を目ざすようになったが、日露戦争後には、政治的勢力として成長した軍部によって統合され、1910年（明治43）11月に帝国在郷軍人会が設立された。これは軍隊教育の復習や相互扶助などを目的にしたが、軍の政治的手足として国民に対する教化や統制の役割を果たしていった。

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