Sakae Osugi

A social activist and anarchist in the Taisho period. Born in Kagawa Prefecture on January 17, 1885. He left the Nagoya Army Cadet School and moved to Tokyo, graduating from the Tokyo School of Foreign Languages ​​in 1906 (Meiji 39). In 1903, he visited the Heiminsha, founded by Kotoku Shusui and Sakai Toshihiko, and subsequently attended their study meetings. In February 1906, he joined the Japan Socialist Party, and was indicted and imprisoned for taking the lead in the anti-rail fare hike movement. In February 1907, he published "The General Trend of the European Socialist Party Movement" in the daily Heimin Shimbun, clarifying the position of the direct action faction and becoming a greater supporter of anarchism than Kotoku. In March of the same year, he was indicted and imprisoned for violating the newspaper ordinance with his translation of Kropotkin's "Appeal to the Youth," and was indicted and imprisoned. In January 1908, he was imprisoned again for the Friday Club rooftop speech incident. In June of the same year, he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison along with Sakai, Arahata Kanson, and Yamakawa Hitoshi for the Red Flag Incident. While in prison he managed to escape the influence of Kropotkin, and after his release, during the "winter period" following the High Treason Incident, he criticized Sakai's theory of waiting for the right opportunity, and in October 1919 (Taisho 1), he founded the literary and ideological magazine Modern Thought with Arahata, preaching the expansion and creativity of life and establishing social individualism. In September 1911, he discontinued publication of Modern Thought, self-deprecatingly calling it "intellectual masturbation," and embarked on a practical movement, but the monthly Heimin Shimbun and the second edition of Modern Thought were successively banned. Around this time, he was married to Kamichika Ichiko and then to Ito Noe, but these romantic relationships drew criticism from both old and new comrades, and in November 1941, he was stabbed by Kamichika at Hikagechaya in Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture.

In December 1917, he moved to the workers' district of Kameido in Tokyo, where he founded Bunmei Hihyo (Criticism of Civilization), and then, together with Wada Kyutaro and Hisaita Unosuke, the Labor Newspaper. In October 1916, he founded the first Labor Movement, becoming a leader in the syndicalist movement. In August 1920, he became a founder of the Japan Socialist League, and cooperated with the Bolsheviks, but gradually intensified his criticism of the Russian Revolution, and at the General Confederation of Japanese Trade Unions convention in September 1922, he supported the theory of free association, coming into fierce conflict with the Bolsheviks. On September 16, 1923, under martial law following the Great Kanto Earthquake, he was arrested and massacred by Captain Amakasu Masahiko of the Military Police along with Ito Noe and his nephew Tachibana Munekazu.

[Fujio Ogino]

"The Complete Works of Osugi Sakae, 12 volumes and 1 supplementary volume (1963-65, Gendai Shichosha)" ▽ "A Study of Osugi Sakae, by Osawa Masamichi (1971, Hosei University Press)" ▽ "A Biography of Osugi Sakae, by Akiyama Kiyoshi (1976, Shisou no Kagakusha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

大正時代の社会運動家、無政府主義者。明治18年1月17日香川県に生まれる。名古屋陸軍幼年学校を退校して上京、1906年（明治39）東京外国語学校卒業。03年幸徳秋水(こうとくしゅうすい)、堺利彦(さかいとしひこ)らが興した平民社を訪ね、以後研究会に出席、06年2月日本社会党に参加し、電車賃値上げ反対運動で先頭にたって起訴され、収監される。07年2月日刊『平民新聞』に「欧洲社会党運動の大勢」を発表、直接行動派の立場を明らかにし、幸徳をしのぐアナキズム理解者となる。同年3月クロポトキンの翻訳「青年に訴ふ」が新聞紙条例違反となり起訴され収監、08年1月の金曜会屋上演説事件で再度入獄する。同年6月の赤旗事件では、堺、荒畑寒村(あらはたかんそん)、山川均(ひとし)らとともに2年半の懲役刑を受ける。獄中でクロポトキンの影響から脱し、出獄後は大逆(たいぎゃく)事件後の「冬の時代」下、堺の時機待機論を批判して、12年（大正1）10月荒畑と文芸思想誌『近代思想』を創刊、生の拡充と創造を説き、社会的個人主義を確立していく。14年9月「知識的手淫(しゅいん)」と自嘲(じちょう)して『近代思想』を廃刊し実際運動に踏み切るが、月刊『平民新聞』、第二次『近代思想』は連続して発禁となる。このころ神近市子(かみちかいちこ)と結ばれ、ついで伊藤野枝(いとうのえ)とも結ばれるが、このような恋愛関係は新旧の同志からも批判を受け、16年11月には神奈川県葉山(はやま)の日蔭茶屋(ひかげちゃや)で神近に刺されるという事件を引き起こす。

　1917年12月東京・亀戸(かめいど)の労働者街に移り、『文明批評』を、さらに和田久太郎(わだきゅうたろう)、久板卯之助(ひさいたうのすけ)とともに『労働新聞』を創刊、19年10月には第一次『労働運動』を創刊してサンジカリズム運動の先頭にたつ。20年8月日本社会主義同盟の発起人になり、ボリシェビキ派と協同するが、ロシア革命評価などをめぐってしだいに批判を強め、22年9月の日本労働組合総連合大会では自由連合論を支持してボル派と激しく対立。翌大正12年9月16日、関東大震災の戒厳令下、甘粕正彦(あまかすまさひこ)憲兵大尉らにより伊藤野枝、甥(おい)の橘宗一(たちばなむねかず)とともに勾引(こういん)、虐殺された。

［荻野富士夫］

『『大杉栄全集』全12巻・補巻1（1963～65・現代思潮社）』▽『大沢正道著『大杉栄研究』（1971・法政大学出版局）』▽『秋山清著『大杉栄評伝』（1976・思想の科学社）』

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