Freedom and Civil Rights

Japanese: 自由民権 - じゆうみんけん

A political movement in the early Meiji period that opposed the government's example and demanded the establishment of a national Diet, the establishment of a constitution, the reduction of land taxes, and local autonomy. Itagaki Taisuke and Goto Shojiro, who had resigned after losing the debate on the Korean Expedition, submitted a petition to the Left House to establish a popularly elected parliament, which triggered the creation of samurai associations promoting the civil rights movement in various places, including the Risshisha in Kochi, and in 1875 the national organization Aikokusha was formed in Osaka. In response, the government announced a gradual transition to a constitutional system, but suppressed it with the Zanbo Law, the Newspaper Ordinance, and the Publication Ordinance. The Aikokusha naturally disappeared when Itagaki returned to the Council of Councilors, but was revived the following year in 1878 when Risshisha submitted a petition to the Emperor in 1877 demanding the establishment of a national Diet, and civil rights associations were established one after another in various places. On the other hand, wealthy farmers and merchants demanded the establishment of local citizen assemblies to assert the interests of farmers in the face of the progress of the land tax reform project, and they rapidly became politicized through the establishment of prefectural assemblies in 1878. These movements were promoted by urban intellectuals, including journalists, who actively promoted the idea of civil rights in newspapers and speeches. In 1880, the 4th convention of the Aikokusha submitted a petition to the government for the establishment of a national parliament, and changed its name to the National Diet Promotion Alliance. In 1881, a petition for the establishment of a national parliament was submitted to the Dajokan with about 100,000 signatures, and the same year, the Hokkaido Colonization Office's public property transfer incident led to attacks on the government by the civil rights faction, and the government was forced to promise the establishment of a national parliament and the promulgation of a constitution in the political upheaval of 1881. Shortly after, the Liberal Party was formed, and Okuma Shigenobu, who had been expelled from the government, formed the Constitutional Reform Party the following year. On the other hand, Matsukata Masayoshi's paper money consolidation policy caused serious deflation and led to the downfall of owner-farmers and tenant farmers. In this climate, the Fukushima Incident, an 1882 crackdown on the movement of Liberal Party members and farmers by Fukushima Prefectural Governor Mishima Michitsune, revealed the government's hard-line stance and raised the question of whether to adopt a legalistic or radical approach to the movement. After that, the radical Liberal Party allied with impoverished farmers who had fallen into poverty, leading to intensifying incidents such as the Gunma Incident, the Kabasan Incident, and the Chichibu Incident in 1884. Unable to control these struggles, the Liberal Party was dissolved in 1884 just before the Chichibu Incident, and the Constitutional Reform Party also declined with the departure of Okuma and others. Later, a movement for unity arose, with calls from Hoshi Toru and Nakae Chomin, and the movement gained momentum when the Three Major Incidents Petition Movement was suppressed by the Security Ordinance, but it took many twists and turns before the People's Party was formed. The Freedom and People's Rights Movement was an all-people political movement that opposed the autocratic government ruled by the feudal bureaucrats of the early Meiji period. It envisioned a new Japanese nation, learning from the constitutional systems and human rights theories of countries such as Britain and France. However, it was exposed to weaknesses such as differences in the aspirations of the samurai, wealthy merchants, and peasants who participated, as well as the division between the theories of civil rights and national sovereignty that had existed from the beginning. In addition, it was subjected to heavy repression and the movement declined, and was defeated by the government's imperial constitutional system, which replaced the demands of the civil rights movement with something else.
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Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

政府の事例に反対し，国会開設，憲法制定，地租軽減，地方自治などを要求した明治初期の政治運動。征韓論に敗れて下野した板垣退助，後藤象二郎らによる左院への民撰議院設立建白を端緒として，高知の立志社をはじめ各地に民権運動を推進する士族結社が生まれ，1875年には大阪で全国組織愛国社が結成された。これに対し政府は立憲制への漸進的移行を表明しつつ，讒謗(ざんぼう)律，新聞紙条例，出版条例で弾圧。愛国社は，板垣の参議復帰により自然消滅したが，1877年立志社による天皇への国会開設要求の建白を機に翌1878年再興され，各地に民権政社が続々と設立された。一方，豪農・豪商層は地租改正事業の進行に対して，農民の利害を主張するために地方民会設立を要求し，1878年設置された府県会に拠って急速に政治化していった。これらの動きを促進したのはジャーナリストをはじめとする都市の知識層で，新聞，演説会などでさかんに民権思想を鼓吹した。1880年愛国社第４回大会は国会開設上願書を政府に提出，名称も国会期成同盟と改めた。1881年，約10万の署名のもと国会開設請願書を太政官に提出，同年の北海道開拓使官有物払下事件は，民権派の政府攻撃を呼び，明治14年の政変で政府は国会開設，憲法発布を約束せざるをえなくなった。その直後，自由党が結成され，政府を追われた大隈重信も翌年立憲改進党を結成した。他方，松方正義の紙幣整理政策は深刻なデフレーションを生み，自作農・小作農の没落を引き起こしていた。このような情勢のなかで，1882年の福島県令三島通庸による自由党員・農民の運動に対する弾圧，福島事件は，政府の強硬路線をあらわにし，これに対するに合法主義をとるか急進主義かという路線問題を浮かび上がらせた。以後，自由党急進派と没落した困窮農民とが結び，1884年群馬事件，加波山事件，秩父事件等の激化事件を引き起こしていく。この闘争を統制しえなくなった自由党は，1884年，秩父事件の直前に解党し，立憲改進党も大隈らの脱党により衰退した。その後，星亨，中江兆民らが呼びかけ，大同団結の動きが起こり，三大事件建白運動の保安条例による弾圧に際して運動は盛り上がったが，民党の結成までにはさらに紆余曲折を必要とした。自由民権運動は，明治初期の藩閥官僚による専制政府に対抗した全人民的政治運動であり，英国やフランスなどの立憲政体や人権論に学びつつ，新しい日本国家を構想するものだったが，参加した士族，豪農商，農民の志向の違い，また当初からあわせもっていた民権論と国権論の分岐などの弱点をつかれ，加えて強硬な弾圧を受けて衰退し，民権派の要求を別ものでおきかえた政府の欽定憲法体制を前に敗れた。
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