Political speech - Seidan Enzetsu

Japanese: 政談演説 - せいだんえんぜつ

Speeches were a way to spread political ideas. When the Freedom and People's Rights Movement arose in the early 1870s, speeches given by intellectual groups such as the Meirokusha were seen as important by the civil rights faction as a way to criticize the government and spread and promote civil rights ideas, and political speech meetings were held frequently. Political speeches were the most important means of communication alongside newspapers, and they were all the rage throughout the country in 1881-82. As a result, the government began to crack down more severely, taking measures such as banning speeches in the streets, banning speeches by government officials, police officers conducting surveillance, and banning speeches for certain periods of time for speakers who had broken the law, and in 1880 they combined these measures and enacted the Assembly Ordinance to regulate them.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

政治思想を普及させる方法として行われた演説。明治10年代初め自由民権運動が起こると，明六社らの知識人グループが行っていた演説は，民権派によって政府批判，民権思想普及･宣伝のための手段として重視され，政談演説会が頻繁に開かれた。政談演説は新聞とならぶ最も重要なコミュニケーション手段であり，1881‐82年に全国で大流行した。それにともない政府は取締りを厳しくし，街頭での演説禁止，官吏の演説禁止，警察官の臨監，法に触れた弁士の一定期間演説禁止などの処置をとり，1880年にはこれらをあわせて集会条例を制定して規制した。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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