Genjiro Sugiyama

Agricultural activist and politician. Born in Osaka Prefecture. He became a Christian while studying at Osaka Prefectural Agricultural College, and after graduating from the Department of Theology at Tohoku Gakuin, he engaged in Christian evangelism in rural areas of the Tohoku region, while also providing guidance to farmers on agricultural techniques and management. In 1920 (Taisho 9), he returned to Osaka and met Kagawa Toyohiko, who became his lifelong comrade. In 1922, he founded the Japan Farmers Union, the first nationwide farmers' union, with Kagawa and others, and became its president. In 1926, he became chairman of the Labor-Farmer Party. When the proletarian parties split up, he resigned from this position and joined the centrist Japan Labor-Farmer Party, but in 1928 (Showa 3), following the merger of farmers' unions, he became chairman of the National Farmers Union, and again in 1938, after the union was dissolved, he became chairman of the Greater Japan Farmers Union.

In 1932, he ran for the House of Representatives as a member of the National Labor-Farmer Mass Party and was elected for four consecutive terms, but was banned from holding public office after the war for being a recommended candidate in the Imperial Rule Assistance Election in 1942. After the ban was lifted in 1951, he was elected to the House of Representatives as a member of the Socialist Party, and in 1955 he became the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

[Shiro Akazawa]

"For Land and Freedom - The Life of Genjiro Sugiyama" (1965, Genjiro Sugiyama Biography Publishing Society) " ▽ "The Sower of Holy Love" edited by the Genjiro Sugiyama Memorial Publication Society (1969, Christ Newspaper Company)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

農民運動家、政治家。大阪府生まれ。大阪府立農学校在学中クリスチャンとなり、東北学院神学部卒業後、東北地方のキリスト教農村伝道に従事し、同時に農民に農業技術や経営の指導を行う。1920年（大正9）大阪に帰り賀川豊彦(かがわとよひこ)と会い、生涯の同志となる。1922年賀川らと最初の全国的農民組合である日本農民組合を設立し組合長に就任、1926年労働農民党委員長となる。無産政党の分裂に際して同委員長を辞任し、中間派の日本労農党に属するが、1928年（昭和3）の農民組合合同によって全国農民組合委員長となり、また同組合解散後の1938年大日本農民組合委員長となる。

　1932年全国労農大衆党から衆議院選挙に出馬して以来連続4期当選したが、1942年の翼賛選挙で推薦候補となったことにより、戦後公職追放となる。追放解除後の1951年（昭和26）社会党から衆議院議員に当選、1955年衆議院副議長に就任した。

［赤澤史朗］

『『土地と自由のために――杉山元治郎伝』（1965・杉山元治郎伝刊行会）』▽『杉山元治郎先生追悼録刊行会編『聖愛の種まく人』（1969・キリスト新聞社）』

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