Chomin Nakae

A Meiji-era thinker on freedom and civil rights. His given name was Tokusuke (Atsusuke), and his pen name was Chomin. He was born in Kochi as the son of a foot soldier of the Tosa clan. He studied at a clan school, and studied French in Nagasaki and Edo as a clan student. In 1871 (Meiji 4), he was sent by the Ministry of Justice to study in France. He returned to Japan in 1874 and opened a French Studies School. He became the head of the Tokyo School of Foreign Languages ​​and a junior secretary to the Senate, but after resigning in 1877 he took no further official position. In 1881, he founded the Toyo Jiyu Shinbun with Saionji Kinmochi and others, and advocated freedom and civil rights as chief editor. In 1882, he published Seiri Soudan (Political Studies) from the French Studies School, and published A Translation of the Minyaku Kai (A Translation of the Civil Contract), introducing Rousseau's social contract and popular sovereignty theory, as well as conveying modern Western democratic ideas and exerting a theoretical influence on the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. In the same year, he joined the Liberal Party's organ newspaper, Jiyu Shinbun, and harshly criticized the Meiji government's policy of enriching the country and strengthening the military. In 1887, he published Sansuijin Keirin Mondo (Questions and Answers on the Three Drunkards' Government), and was active at the center of the Three Great Incidents Petition Movement, leading to his banishment from Tokyo due to the Security Ordinance. From 1888 onwards, as editor-in-chief of Osaka's Shinonome Shinbun, he developed thoroughly democratic ideas, including theories of universal suffrage, buraku liberation, native militias, and criticism of the Meiji Constitution. Insisting on constitutional review, he ran in the first general election of 1890 from Osaka's 4th district and was elected, but in the first assembly, he was outraged by the compromise made by some in the Democratic Party on the issue of budget cuts, and resigned from the House of Representatives, calling it a "showroom for bloodless insects." He then tried to get involved in business, but was unsuccessful. He wrote books such as "Diet Theory," "Election Awakening," and "A Year and a Half," and in "Rigaku Kogen" and "Continued A Year and a Half," he advocated materialistic philosophy. While he attacked the Meiji clan-controlled government from beginning to end with his unique style of writing, making full use of Chinese characters, his frank and open-minded behavior, which disliked vanity and deception, was seen as eccentric by the public. He died on December 13, 1901, leaving a will that he should not be buried and that he should be dissected.

[Shozo Matsunaga]

"Complete Works of Nakae Chomin, 17 volumes (1983-85, Iwanami Shoten)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

明治時代の自由民権思想家。名は篤介(とくすけ)（篤助）、兆民は号。土佐藩足軽の子として高知に生まれる。藩校に学び、藩の留学生として長崎、江戸でフランス学を学ぶ。1871年（明治4）司法省から派遣されフランスへ留学。1874年に帰国し仏学塾を開く。東京外国語学校長、元老院権少書記官(ごんのしょうしょきかん)となるが、1877年辞職後は官につかなかった。1881年西園寺公望(さいおんじきんもち)らと『東洋自由新聞』を創刊し、主筆として自由民権論を唱え、1882年には仏学塾から『政理叢談(せいりそうだん)』を刊行し、『民約訳解』を発表してルソーの社会契約・人民主権論を紹介するほか、西欧の近代民主主義思想を伝え、自由民権運動に理論的影響を与えた。同年自由党の機関紙『自由新聞』に参加し、明治政府の富国強兵政策を厳しく批判。1887年『三酔人経綸問答(さんすいじんけいりんもんどう)』を発表、また三大事件建白運動の中枢にあって活躍し、保安条例で東京を追放された。1888年以降、大阪の『東雲新聞(しののめしんぶん)』主筆として、普通選挙論、部落解放論、土著民兵論、明治憲法批判など徹底した民主主義思想を展開した。憲法の審査を主張して、1890年第1回総選挙に大阪4区から立候補し当選したが、第1議会で予算削減問題での民党一部の妥協に憤慨、衆議院を「無血虫の陳列場」とののしって議員を辞職した。その後実業に関係するが成功しなかった。『国会論』『選挙人目さまし』『一年有半』などの著書があり、『理学鉤玄(りがくこうげん)』『続一年有半』では唯物論哲学を唱えた。漢語を駆使した独特の文章で終始明治藩閥政府を攻撃する一方、虚飾や欺瞞(ぎまん)を嫌ったその率直闊達(かったつ)な行動は世人から奇行とみられた。無葬式、解剖を遺言して、明治34年12月13日に没した。

［松永昌三］

『『中江兆民全集』全17巻（1983～85・岩波書店）』

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