Imperial Rule Assistance Association

An official national integration organization during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War. It was formed on October 12, 1940 (Showa 15) as a result of the New System Movement led by Konoe Fumimaro. The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was a central political organization of the "Advanced National Defense System" alongside the New Economic System (Control Association) and the New Labor System (Great Japan Industrial Patriotic Association), and was positioned as the organization promoting the Imperial Rule Assistance Movement. The organization adopted the ideological slogan "Practicing the Patriotic Way of the Imperial Rule Assistance," and its operating principle was the "public discussion and governance" method, which imitated the Nazi leadership principle, in which the public would debate thoroughly but the final decision would be made by the president. The prime minister served as president (previous presidents were Konoe, Tojo Hideki, Koiso Kuniaki, and Suzuki Kantaro), and all officials from Secretary General Arima Yoriyasu on down were appointed by the president. The central headquarters had five bureaus (General Affairs, Organization, Policy, Planning, and Assembly) and 23 departments. Branches were established in accordance with local administrative districts, and many of the branch chiefs were appointed by governors or mayors, with cooperation councils attached to both the central and local organizations. However, the various ruling groups, including the military, the Ministry of Internal Affairs bureaucrats, the business world, and established political parties, all had different intentions, making it an organization in which all three parties were in the same boat. As a result, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association was constantly plagued by struggles for leadership from the moment it was formed, and in February 1941 it was recognized as a public organization and banned from political activity. By April, Arima and his close aides to Konoe were forced to resign, and the association became an administrative auxiliary organization in which the Home Ministry bureaucrats and the police held the lead.

The Tojo Cabinet took advantage of the pressure of victory in the first battle of the Pacific War, and held the Imperial Rule Assistance Election in April 1942 to establish a political system that supported the Imperial Rule Assistance. In June, they brought six official national movement organizations, the Greater Japan Industrial Patriotic Association, the Agricultural Patriotic Federation, the Commercial Patriotic Association, the Japan Shipping Patriotic Corps, the Greater Japan Youth Corps, and the Greater Japan Women's Association, under the umbrella of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association. In August, they decided to appoint Imperial Rule Assistance Association organizers to the neighborhood associations and buraku associations (who also served as neighborhood association presidents, about 210,000 people) and organizers to the neighborhood associations (who also served as neighborhood association leaders, about 1.54 million people). Moreover, the lowest-level organizations such as the neighborhood associations also served as distribution mechanisms for daily necessities, and the entire nation came under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the police, even in its daily lives. This established the Imperial Rule Assistance Association system, an organization that controlled the people under Japanese fascism, and, combined with the strengthening of control over the military police, they achieved almost perfect control over power in terms of security measures. However, with the transition to a system of fighting the decisive battle on the mainland, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association was dissolved on June 13, 1945, and gradually transformed into the Volunteer Citizen Corps.

[Junichiro Kizaka]

"History of the Pacific War 3-5" edited by the Society for Historical Studies (1972-73, Aoki Shoten)" ▽ "The History of Japanese Political Parties, Volume 7" by Masumi Junnosuke (1980, University of Tokyo Press) ▽ "The New Konoe Regime" by Ito Takashi (1983, Chuokoron-Shinsha) ▽ "The New Konoe Regime and the Imperial Rule Assistance Association" by Akagi Suruyoshi (1984, Iwanami Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日中戦争および太平洋戦争期の官製国民統合団体。近衛文麿(このえふみまろ)を中心とする新体制運動の結果、1940年（昭和15）10月12日に結成された。翼賛会は経済新体制（統制会）、勤労新体制（大日本産業報国会）と並ぶ「高度国防国家体制」の政治的中心組織であり、大政翼賛運動の推進組織として位置づけられた。「大政翼賛の臣道実践」という観念的スローガンを掲げ、衆議は尽くすが最終決定は総裁が下すという、ナチスの指導者原理をまねた「衆議統裁」方式を運営原則とし、総裁は首相が兼任（歴代総裁は近衛、東条英機(ひでき)、小磯国昭(こいそくにあき)、鈴木貫太郎）し、事務総長有馬頼寧(ありまよりやす)以下の全役員はすべて総裁の指名によって任命され、中央本部に総務、組織、政策、企画、議会の五局と23部が置かれた。地方行政区域に対応して支部が設置され、各支部長の多くは知事および市町村長が任命され、中央と地方組織のそれぞれに協力会議が付置された。しかし、軍部、内務官僚、財界、既成政党など支配層各グループはそれぞれ異なる思惑をもっており、呉越同舟的組織であった。そのため翼賛会は、結成直後から主導権争いが絶えず、1941年2月には公事結社と認定されて政治活動を禁止され、さらに4月までの間に有馬らの近衛側近グループが退陣させられ、内務官僚と警察が主導権を握る行政補助機関となっていった。

　東条内閣は太平洋戦争の初戦の勝利の圧力を利用し、1942年4月翼賛選挙を実施して翼賛政治体制の確立を図るとともに、6月大日本産業報国会、農業報国連盟、商業報国会、日本海運報国団、大日本青少年団、大日本婦人会の官製国民運動六団体を翼賛会の傘下に収め、8月町内会と部落会に翼賛会の世話役（町内会長・部落会長兼任、約21万人）を、隣組に世話人（隣組長兼任、約154万人）を置くことを決定した。しかも町内会などの末端組織は生活必需品などの配給機構を兼ねており、全国民は日常生活まで内務官僚と警察の支配を受けることになった。ここに翼賛会体制＝日本ファシズムの国民支配組織が確立し、憲兵支配の強化と相まって、治安対策的にはほとんど完璧(かんぺき)な権力支配が実現した。しかし本土決戦体制への移行に伴い、翼賛会は45年6月13日に解散し、国民義勇隊へ発展的解消を遂げた。

［木坂順一郎］

『歴史学研究会編『太平洋戦争史3～5』（1972～73・青木書店）』▽『升味準之輔著『日本政党史論　第七巻』（1980・東京大学出版会）』▽『伊藤隆著『近衛新体制』（1983・中央公論社）』▽『赤木須留喜著『近衛新体制と大政翼賛会』（1984・岩波書店）』

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