Iida Incident

A plan for the uprising of the Liberal Democratic Party in Nagano and Aichi Prefectures. In the spring of 1883 (Meiji 16), Muramatsu Aizo, a samurai from the former Tahara Domain in Aichi Prefecture, established a public road hall in Koichiba-cho, Nagoya Ward, and around April 1884, he and his comrades Yagi Shigeharu and Kawasumi Tokuji made plans to raise an army to establish a constitutional government, and decided to print 50,000 copies of a manifesto and distribute them simultaneously in Tokyo, Osaka, and other places. Kawasumi also asked Sakurai Heikichi, president of Aikoku Seiri-sha in Iida, for his consent, and Nakajima Sukeshiro, a nurse from the Nagoya Garrison, deserted the army in June 1884 and went to Tokyo in July to move forward with the plan to distribute the manifesto. Shortly after, Muramatsu, Kawasumi, Sakurai, and others also went to Tokyo, but they turned back because they were unable to secure the funds to print the manifesto. Muramatsu and others continued their organizational activities from September to November in order to stick to their plan to raise an army, and reworked the manifesto that Yagi had drafted into one calling for an uprising, and established flags with the following words: Aikoku Gito, Jiyu Kakumei, Tenchu, Banzai Jiyuu, Tax Reduction, Conscription Law Revision, Stamp Tax Abolition, and Poor Relief. Immediately afterwards, Muramatsu and others headed for Tahara, while Kawasumi visited the Aikoku Shori-sha and obtained Sakurai's consent for the uprising, then traveled to the Toyama region, where they confided their plan for the uprising to Toyama Hachiro, Yoneyama Fusataro, and Yoneyama Yoshimatsu, members of the Shori-sha in Minamiwada village, but Yoneyama Yoshimatsu betrayed them to the Wada Branch of the Iida Police Station, and Kawasumi and Shori-sha leader Oshio Shujiro were arrested by officers from the Iida Police Station on December 3rd. Sakurai visited Karuizawa from Matsumoto, Nagano, and Komoro to recruit comrades, and on his way back he stopped by his comrade Inazawa Kamahappo in Takato Town, Kamiina County, but he was reported to the Ina Branch Police Station in Inazawa and arrested. Thus, the Iida Incident was discovered in advance. 11 people were arrested on the Nagoya side and 17 people on the Iida side. Muramatsu, Yagi, Kawasumi, Sakurai, Egawa Jintaro, and Nakajima were sentenced to seven to one years in light imprisonment for conspiring to commit civil war, while the others were acquitted and acquitted.

[Yasushi Goto]

"Iida Incident Trial Records" by Yasushi Goto (published in Ritsumeikan Law Review, 1957)" ▽ "Tezuka Yutaka, "Study of the Civil Rights Trial, Part 2" (1982, Keio University Press)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

長野、愛知両県下の自由民権派による挙兵計画。愛知県の旧田原(たはら)藩士族村松愛蔵は、1883年（明治16）春、名古屋区小市場町に公道館を設け、1884年4月ごろから同志八木重治、川澄徳次らと立憲政体樹立のため挙兵計画をたて、檄文(げきぶん)5万部を印刷し、東京、大阪など各地に同時に撒布(さんぷ)することを決定した。川澄は飯田の愛国正理社社長桜井平吉にも同意を求め、また名古屋鎮台看護卒中島助四郎は1884年6月に脱営して、檄文撒布計画を進めるため7月に上京した。その直後に村松、川澄、桜井らも上京したが、檄文印刷の資金が思うにまかせず引き返した。村松らは挙兵方針を貫くため9月から11月にかけて組織活動を続け、八木が起草した檄文を蜂起(ほうき)を呼びかける檄文につくりかえ、愛国義党、自由革命、天誅(てんちゅう)、自由万歳、租税軽減、徴兵令改正、印紙税廃止、貧民救恤(きゅうじゅつ)の旗章を制定した。その直後村松らは田原方面に、川澄は愛国正理社を訪ねて桜井に蜂起の同意を得て遠山地方に赴き、南和田村の正理社員遠山八郎、米山房太郎、米山吉松らに挙兵計画を打ち明けたが、米山吉松が飯田警察署和田分署に密告したため、川澄と正理社幹部小塩周次郎は12月3日飯田署員に逮捕された。桜井は、同志を募るため松本、長野、小諸(こもろ)から軽井沢を歴訪し、帰路、上伊那(かみいな)郡高遠(たかとお)町の同志稲沢鎌八方に立ち寄ったが、稲沢に伊那分署に密告され逮捕された。こうして飯田事件は事前に発覚した。名古屋側では11名が、飯田側では17名が逮捕された。村松、八木、川澄、桜井、江川甚太郎、中島の6名は内乱陰謀罪で軽禁獄7年から1年の刑、他は無罪放免された。

［後藤　靖］

『後藤靖著「飯田事件裁判記録」（『立命館法学』所収・1957）』▽『手塚豊著『自由民権裁判の研究　中』（1982・慶応通信）』

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