Oriental Socialist Party

A kind of utopian socialist party in the Meiji period. Founded on May 25, 1882 (Meiji 15) by Tarui Tokichi, Akamatsu Yasusuke and others in Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture. The platform of the draft party rules proclaimed "affection as the standard of words and actions," "equality of self and others as the principle," and "the greatest welfare of the public as the goal." Based in Nishimatsuura District, Saga Prefecture, the party is said to have won over 3,000 cultivating farmers who demanded the continuation of the virtuous land reform system of Nabeshima Kanso, the former lord of Saga. As the party's idea of ​​sharing nature and things was further infiltrated by organizer Watanabe Masataka, the authorities deemed the party a communist party or a void party, and in June of the same year, Yamada Akiyoshi, Minister of the Interior, banned the party as a nuisance to public order. In January of the following year, Tarui was sentenced to one year in prison for printing and distributing draft party rules, and the party was thus dissolved.

[Shoichi Matsuo]

"Sogoro Tanaka's Thoughts on the Oriental Socialist Party (1930, Ichigensha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

明治時代の一種のユートピア的社会主義政党。1882年（明治15）5月25日、樽井藤吉(たるいとうきち)が赤松泰助(あかまつやすすけ)らと長崎県島原で結成。党則草案の綱領に「親愛を言行の規準」「自他平等を主義」「社会公衆の最大福利を目的」とすることをうたう。佐賀県西松浦郡を拠点とし、旧佐賀藩主鍋島閑叟(なべしまかんそう)の徳政的土地改革制度継続を要求した耕作農民3000余名を獲得したという。党の天物共有思想が渡辺政貴(まさたか)という組織者によりさらに浸透したため、同党は当局により共産党・虚無党とみなされ、同年6月、山田顕義(あきよし)内務卿(きょう)により治安に有害として結社を禁止された。さらに翌年1月、樽井は党則草案を印刷配布したかどで軽禁錮1年に処され下獄、こうして同党は消滅した。

［松尾章一］

『田中惣五郎著『東洋社会党考』（1930・一元社）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例