Liquor store conference - Sakayakaigi

A meeting was held in May 1882 (Meiji 15) with the aim of reducing the liquor tax. The liquor tax had been raised substantially in 1878 and 1880, so in May 1881, 293 sake brewers in Kochi Prefecture submitted a petition for a reduction in the liquor tax to the Ministry of Finance, but it was rejected. They then turned the matter over to the freedom and civil rights activists Ueki Emori and Kojima Minoru. Ueki and Kojima organized a nationwide movement to demand a reduction in the liquor tax, resisting government repression. On May 4, 1882, over 20 representatives from all over Japan gathered in Osaka and were put on a boat on the Yodo River to hold thorough discussions. On the 9th, the group suddenly entered Kyoto with over 40 others, and the next day held a meeting at Gion Nakamura-ro, where they resolved to demand a reduction in liquor taxes from the government. The following month, representative Ohara Tesshin submitted a petition to the Dajokan and a petition to the Genroin. This meeting sparked a nationwide campaign for tax reductions among sake brewers. Kojima later wrote that this was the first case in which a group of businessmen joined the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. Kojima and several others were imprisoned, and the goal of business freedom, which was a tax reduction, was not achieved, but it is considered a successful defense of freedom of assembly.

[Mitsuhiro Tonosaki]

"Ienaga Saburo, 'A Study of Ueki Emori' (1960, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Yamada Shoji, 'Trends of the Meiji Government and Sake Brewers in the 1870s' (Historical Review, No. 135, 1961, Council of Historical Sciences)" ▽ Tonosaki Mitsuhiro, 'The Sake Shop Conference and Kojima Minoru' (Social Science Review, No. 42, 1982, Kochi Junior College)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

酒税減税を目ざして1882年（明治15）5月に開かれた会合。酒税が1878年と80年に大幅に引き上げられたため、81年5月高知県の酒造業者293名が酒税減額願を大蔵省に提出したが却下された。そこで彼らはこの件を自由民権家植木枝盛(うえきえもり)と児島稔(こじまみのる)に依頼した。植木と児島は政府の圧迫弾圧に抗しながら酒税減額要求を全国的運動に組織した。82年5月4日全国から大阪に参集した20余名の代表を淀(よど)川に浮かべた船に収容して懇談熟議を尽くし、9日40余名とともに突如京都に入り、翌日祇園(ぎおん)中村楼で会議を開いて、政府に対する酒税減額要求を決議、総代小原鉄臣(おはらてっしん)が翌月請願書を太政官(だじょうかん)に、建白書を元老院に提出した。この会議を契機として、全国的に酒造業者の減税運動が展開された。後日、児島は、実業家団体が自由民権運動に参加した最初の事件であると書いている。児島ら数人が投獄され、減税という営業自由の目的は実現できなかったが、集会自由の防衛に成功したものと評価されている。

［外崎光廣］

『家永三郎著『植木枝盛研究』（1960・岩波書店）』▽『山田昭次「明治10年代における明治政権と酒造業者の動向」（『歴史評論』第135号所収・1961・歴史科学協議会）』▽『外崎光廣「酒屋会議と児島稔」（『社会科学論集』第42号所収・1982・高知短期大学）』

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