Fusataro Takano

Japanese: 高野房太郎 - たかの・ふさたろう

Year of death: March 12, 1904 (Meiji 37)
Year of birth: 24th November 1869 (6th January 1869)
One of the founders of the Japanese labor movement during the Meiji period. Older brother of Takano Iwasaburo. Born in what is now Nagasaki City. Moved to Tokyo with his family in 1877, and after his father's death, he studied at night school while working for his uncle in Yokohama. In 1884, he went to the United States, and after returning to Japan briefly, he worked hard while studying mainly in San Francisco, graduating from San Francisco Commercial School in 1892. During this time, he deepened his research into labor issues, and in 1891, he organized the Shoko Giyukai (Artisan Friends Association) with Jo Tsunetaro and others. In 1894, he moved to New York, where he met and became acquainted with Gompers at the headquarters of the AFL (American Federation of Labor), and was appointed an AFL organizer. He then accompanied the ship to the Far East as a crew member on an American warship, returning to Japan in 1896. After working as a reporter for an English newspaper in Yokohama, he moved to Tokyo and began organizing laborers, and in the spring of 1897, he reorganized the Shoko Giyukai (Artisan Friends Association) with Jo and others. The first propaganda in the history of the Japanese labor movement, "To All the Workers," was distributed at this time and is said to have been written by Takano. In the same year, he held the first labor-related speech meeting in Japan, founded the Labor Union Preparatory Society and became its executive member, and also contributed to the founding of the Ironworkers' Union and the launch of the magazine "Labor World." However, Takano's labor unionism came into conflict with Katayama Sen and others within the Preparatory Society who were increasingly leaning toward socialism, and at one point Takano resigned as executive member of the Preparatory Society and the Ironworkers' Union to promote the consumer union movement, but it ended in failure. In the spring of 1958, he suddenly withdrew from the movement and traveled to China, where he died in a German hospital in Qingdao. <References> Hyman Gablin, "A Scene from the Meiji Labor Movement," Oshima Kiyoshi, "The Life of Takano Iwasaburo," Sumiya Mikio, "A Historical Study of Wage Labor in Japan," Futamura Kazuo, "The Artisans' Friendship Association and the Japanese Shoemakers' Union of California" ("Labor Movement History Research" No. 62)

(Arima Manabu)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：明治37.3.12(1904)
生年：明治1.11.24(1869.1.6)
明治期,日本労働運動の創始者のひとり。高野岩三郎の兄。現在の長崎市に生まれる。明治10(1877)年一家と共に上京,父の死後横浜の伯父のもとで働きながら夜学に学び,19年渡米,以後一時帰国をはさんでサンフランシスコを中心に労働しながら苦学し,1892年にサンフランシスコ商業学校を卒業した。この間,労働問題の研究を深め,1891年には城常太郎らと職工義友会を組織した。1894年にニューヨークに移り,AFL(アメリカ労働総同盟)本部でゴンパースと会って知遇を得,AFLのオルガナイザーに任命される。その後アメリカ軍艦の乗組員として乗艦の極東配備に従い,明治29(1896)年帰国。横浜で英字紙の記者をしたのち,上京して労働者の組織に着手,30年春に城らと職工義友会を再組織した。このとき配布された,わが国労働運動史上最初の宣伝文「職工諸君に寄す」は高野の執筆とされる。同年日本で最初の労働問題演説会を開催,労働組合期成会を結成して幹事となり,鉄工組合結成,『労働世界』の創刊などにも力をつくした。しかし高野の労働組合主義は,期成会の内部で社会主義への傾斜を深めつつあった片山潜らと対立し,高野は一時期成会や鉄工組合の幹事を辞して消費組合運動を推進したが失敗に終る。33年の春に突然運動から手を引き,中国に渡ったが,青島のドイツ病院で死去。<参考文献>ハイマン・ガブリン『明治労働運動の一齣』,大島清『高野岩三郎伝』,隅谷三喜男『日本賃労働の史的研究』,二村一夫「職工義友会と加州日本人靴工組合」(『労働運動史研究』62号)

(有馬学)

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