Goro Hani

Historian. Born on March 29, 1901, as the fifth son of Mori Sosaku, a textile merchant in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture. In 1921 (Taisho 10), he enrolled in the Faculty of Law at Tokyo Imperial University, but dropped out after three months. The following year, he went to Germany to study Rickert's philosophy of history at the University of Heidelberg, and in 1921, he returned to Japan and re-enrolled in the Department of Japanese History at the Faculty of Letters at Tokyo Imperial University. In 1951, he married Hani Setsuko, and took her surname. He graduated from university in 1952 (Showa 2), and the following year, together with Miki Kiyoshi, he founded the magazine Under the Banner of New Science, and in 1954, he participated in the founding of the Institute of Proletarian Science, where he worked to build a Marxist theory of history. Collections such as "History in Transition" (1929) and "Introduction to the Critique of Historical Theory" (1932) were the fruit of his efforts, and in this way Hani established the first Marxist system of historical theory in Japan based on the materialist view of history.

He wrote many articles on the Meiji Restoration for the "Lectures on the History of the Development of Japanese Capitalism" published from May 1932, and also published "The Formation of Capitalism in the East" (1932) in the "Study of Historical Studies". In these works, Hani established the position of the Meiji Restoration in world history, and clarified, using a wealth of fundamental historical materials, that its driving force was the struggle of farmers and townspeople, that the essence of the Meiji Restoration was the incompleteness of the democratic revolution, and that this led to the establishment of the despotic Emperor System. This work had a strong influence on subsequent research into the history of the Restoration, and is of great historical significance. In September 1933, he was arrested on suspicion of violating the Peace Preservation Law, but was released in December, and continued to write "The Meiji Restoration" (1935), "Michelangelo" and "Croche" (both 1939), and waged ideological resistance from an anti-war and anti-fascist standpoint. However, he was arrested again in Beijing in March 1945, and regained his freedom in September after Japan's defeat.

After the war, he was active in many areas, including as a critic of civilization and a social activist. In the first House of Councillors election in 1947 (Showa 22), he ran as an independent candidate in the national constituency and was elected, serving in that position until 1956, during which he worked hard to establish the National Diet Library. He was also a member of the Science Council of Japan from 1949 to 1951, and served as chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Academic Freedom of Thought. His book The Logic of the City (1968), published during the university protests at the end of the 1960s, had a major impact on students. He passed away on June 8, 1983.

[Yamada Takao]

"Goro Hani's Collected Works on History, 4 volumes (1967, Aoki Shoten)" ▽ "Goro Hani's Autobiographical Postwar History (1976, Kodansha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

歴史学者。明治34年3月29日、群馬県桐生(きりゅう)市の織物業者森宗作の五男として生まれる。1921年（大正10）東京帝国大学法学部に入学するが3か月で中退。翌22年、リッケルトの歴史哲学を学ぶためにドイツのハイデルベルク大学に留学し、24年に帰国して東京帝国大学文学部国史学科に再入学した。26年に羽仁説子(せつこ)と結婚、羽仁の姓を名のる。27年（昭和2）に大学を卒業し、翌年三木清とともに『新興科学の旗のもとに』誌を創刊、29年にはプロレタリア科学研究所の創立に参加し、マルクス主義歴史理論の建設に努める。『転形期の歴史学』（1929）、『歴史学批判序説』（1932）などの論集はその努力の結実したもので、こうして羽仁はわが国で初めて唯物史観を基礎とするマルクス主義歴史理論体系を樹立したのである。

　1932年5月から刊行された『日本資本主義発達史講座』には、明治維新にかかわる多数の論文を執筆、同時に『史学雑誌』にも「東洋における資本主義の形成」（1932）を発表した。これらの仕事のなかで羽仁は明治維新の世界史的位置づけを行い、その原動力が農民や町人の闘いにあること、明治維新の本質が民主主義革命の未完成にあり、それゆえに専制的な天皇制が成立したことを、豊富な根本史料を駆使しながら明らかにした。これはその後の維新史研究に強い影響を与えており、その史学史的意義は大きい。33年9月に治安維持法違反容疑で逮捕されるが、12月に出獄し、それ以後も「明治維新」（1935）、『ミケルアンヂェロ』『クロオチェ』（ともに1939）などを執筆し、反戦・反ファシズムの立場から思想的抵抗を繰り広げた。しかし45年3月には北京(ペキン)でふたたび逮捕され、敗戦後の9月に自由を回復した。

　戦後は文明批評家、社会運動家としても多面的な活動を展開した。1947年（昭和22）の第1回参議院議員選挙では全国区から無所属で立候補して当選、56年まで同議員を務め、国立国会図書館の創設などに尽力した。また49年から51年まで学術会議会員として、「学問思想の自由の保障の委員会」の委員長を務めた。なお60年代末の大学紛争時に刊行した『都市の論理』（1968）は、学生たちに大きな影響を与えた。昭和58年6月8日死去。

［山田敬男］

『『羽仁五郎歴史論著作集』全四巻（1967・青木書店）』▽『羽仁五郎著『自伝的戦後史』（1976・講談社）』

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