Agrarianism - nouhonshugi

The idea that agriculture is the foundation of society or the nation, and the political doctrines and claims based on this agrarian ideology. Originally it emerged as a reflection of the contradictions in feudal society, and many of these were motivated by the experience of feudal lords' extortion and punishment, and the devastation of famines caused by natural disasters. The ideas and claims of Edo period thinkers such as Ando Shoeki, Sato Nobuhiro, and Ninomiya Sontoku developed from the idea of ​​how to alleviate the poverty of peasants.

After the Meiji Restoration, the imperial government often spread agrarian ideology that seemed to emphasize agriculture and rural areas, but it did not remove feudal elements of rural areas such as parasitic landlords, and instead used these as one of the economic foundations of the imperial system to develop capitalism. Under this semi-feudal land ownership system, rural areas became a rich source of low-wage laborers and soldiers, while farmers suffered exploitation and continued to live in poverty. The Great Depression that occurred repeatedly from 1927 (Showa 2) in particular dealt a devastating blow to rural areas, and in cold regions such as Tohoku and Hokkaido, hellish scenes of people starving to death, freezing to death, committing suicide, and whole families committing double suicide appeared.

Reflecting this situation, agrarianism emerged in the early Showa period in connection with the Showa Restoration and the movement to reform the nation. This was agrarian autonomy, advocated by Gondo Seikei and Tachibana Kozaburo. Agrarian autonomy suddenly attracted attention when Gondo was implicated in the Blood Brotherhood Incident of 1932 and Tachibana led a seven-man "Farmer Suicide Corps" in the May 15 Incident of the same year, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In modern history, agrarianism is often meant to refer to this agrarian autonomy. Agrarian autonomy is developed in books such as Gondo Seikei's "Autonomous People's Model" and "Rural Self-Salvation Theory" and Tachibana Kozaburo's "The True Meaning of Japanese Patriotism Reform" and "The Imperial Way and the Founding of the Nation by Agrarians." Gondo's theory is unique and linked to his "institutional studies," and he idealizes "citizen self-control and self-governance" that he claims was realized through the Taika Reforms. He rejects capitalist centralism and advocates that political organizations should be autonomous, with rural areas at the center. He criticizes nationalism, going so far as to call it "a bandit that betrays our Japan, and the sworn enemy of our fellow common people." Tachibana's theory is similar in that it advocates rural autonomy, but it is not as reactionary or anti-capitalist as Gondo's, and to a certain extent, he acknowledges the existence of state power to control the machine industry and the economy. There is no denying that rural autonomy had a certain influence in the rural areas during the crisis of the early Showa era and the extreme impoverishment of farmers. However, while there are some who go so far as to evaluate this as a pillar of the Japanese fascist movement, such an assessment is difficult to justify, given that agrarian autonomy is completely absent from the ideas of Kita Ikki, Okawa Shumei and others who formed the mainstream of the national reform movement, and when one looks at the actual state of the right-wing movement in light of the facts.

[Tatsuzo Ohno]

"Yamamoto Hikosuke, 'Theories and Policies of Nationalist Groups'" (included in the 'Special Collection of Materials on Thought' No. 84, 1941, Ministry of Justice, Criminal Affairs Bureau)" ▽ "Kinoshita Hanji, 'Study of the Japanese Right Wing' (1977, Gendai Hyoronsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

農業こそが社会、あるいは国の本であるという思想、およびこの農本思想に基づく政治上の主義、主張。元来は、封建社会の矛盾を反映して出現したもので、領主の苛斂誅求(かれんちゅうきゅう)や、天災地変による飢饉(ききん)の惨状などの見聞を動機として考え出されたものが多い。江戸時代の思想家安藤昌益(しょうえき)、佐藤信淵(のぶひろ)、二宮尊徳などの思想や主張は、農民の窮乏をどう救済するかという発想から発展したものである。

　明治維新以後、天皇制政府は、農業と農村を重視するかのような農本主義的思想をしばしば振りまいたが、寄生地主制など農村の封建的要素を取り除かず、これを天皇制の一つの経済的基礎として資本主義を発展させた。この半封建的土地所有制下の農村は、低賃金労働者と兵士の豊かな供給源となり、農民は収奪に苦しみ窮乏を続けた。とくに1927年（昭和2）から繰り返された大恐慌は、農村に壊滅的打撃を与え、なかでも東北、北海道などの寒冷地帯では、飢え死に、凍死、自殺、一家心中などの地獄絵が現出した。

　こうした状況も反映して、昭和初期には、いわゆる昭和維新、国家改造運動と結び付いた農本主義が現れた。権藤成卿(ごんどうせいけい)、橘孝三郎(たちばなこうざぶろう)によって唱えられた農本自治主義である。権藤が1932年の血盟団事件に連座し、橘が同年の五・一五事件に7名の「農民決死隊」を率いて参加、無期懲役の刑に処せられたことから農本自治主義は一躍注目を浴びた。現代史のうえで農本主義とは、この農本自治主義をさすことが多い。農本自治主義は、権藤成卿の『自治民範』『農村自救論』、橘孝三郎の『日本愛国革新本義』『皇道国家農本建国論』などの著書のなかで展開されている。権藤のそれは、彼の「制度学」と結び付いた特異なもので、大化改新によって実現したとする「公民自制自治」を理想とし、資本主義の中央集権を排し、政治組織は農村を中心とする自治制にすることを主張している。国家主義を論難し、「我日本を賊する匪類(ひるい)、同胞庶民の仇敵(きゅうてき)」とまでいっている。橘のそれは、農村自治を主張する点では同じであるが、権藤ほど復古的、反資本主義的ではなく、また、ある程度機械工業や経済を統制する国家権力の存在を認めている。昭和初期の農村の危機、農民の極度の貧窮化の状況のもとで、農村自治主義が一定の影響を与えたことは否めない。ただ、これを日本ファシズム運動の支柱とまで評価する説もあるが、国家改造運動の主流をなした北一輝(きたいっき)、大川周明(しゅうめい)その他の思想には農本自治主義がまったくみられないことや、右翼運動の実態を事実に即してみれば、そのような評価は認めがたい。

［大野達三］

『山本彦助「国家主義団体の理論と政策」（『思想研究資料特輯』第84号所収・1941・司法省刑事局）』▽『木下半治著『日本右翼の研究』（1977・現代評論社）』

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