Yamaguchi Koken

Japanese: 山口孤剣 - やまぐち・こけん

Year of death: September 2, 1920
Year of birth: April 19, 1883 (Meiji 16)
A socialist in the Meiji period. His real name was Gizo. He was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. He graduated from Tokyo Political School. According to his own recollections, he became a socialist after reading Matsubara Iwagoro's "Darkest Tokyo" around the winter of 1900 (Meiji 33). He joined the Heiminsha and spoke out against the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05). He is known for peddling the weekly newspaper "Heimin Shimbun" and socialist books from Tokyo to Shimonoseki in a red cart from 1902 to 1903. When the Japan Socialist Party was formed in 1904, he became a council member. He was imprisoned several times, including in the Red Flag Incident (1907), which was triggered by a welcome party for Yamaguchi's release from prison. He was also a poet. <Works> "Socialism and Women" (Meiji Socialism Materials Collection, Volume 6)

(Kazuo Komiya)

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

Japanese:

没年：大正9.9.2(1920)
生年：明治16.4.19(1883)
明治時代の社会主義者。本名は義三。山口県下関の生まれ。東京政治学校卒。本人の回想によれば,明治33(1900)年の冬ごろ,松原岩五郎の『最暗黒の東京』を読んだことが社会主義者となる契機だった。平民社に参加して日露戦争(1904～05)に反対を唱えた。37年から38年にかけて週刊『平民新聞』や社会主義の書籍を赤い荷車に積んで東京から下関まで行商したことで有名。39年日本社会党が結成されると評議員となった。山口の出獄歓迎会が契機となった赤旗事件(1907)などで数回投獄される。詩人としての一面もあった。<著作>『社会主義と婦人』(明治社会主義資料叢書6巻)

(小宮一夫)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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