Shinkigen

Shinkigen (新紀元, Shinjiken, "New Era") was a socialist monthly magazine, published in Tokyo, Japan, between November 1905 and November 1906.[1][2][3]

History and profile

Shinkigen emerged after the October 1905 split in the Heiminsha.[1][4] The first issue was published on November 10, 1905.[5] Shinkigen was the organ of the reformist socialist group, dominated by Christian social democrats. Shinkigen was edited by personalities such as Abe Isoo, Sen Katayama, Sanshiro Ishikawa, and Naoe Kinoshita.[1][4][6] Shinkigen argued in favour of universal suffrage and social reform (through parliamentary means).[1] The first issue of the magazine included an article by Uchimura Kanzō, which stated "Though I am not a socialist, I cannot refrain from the greatest sympathy for this gentemanly work."[5]

Shinkigen was characterized by a humanistic worldview.[1] Its conception of socialism was spiritualistic and highly individualistic. The magazine frequently featured (Christian) religious motifs, with imagery such having an angel or a shining cross depicted on the cover page or with article titles such as 'The Revolutionary Thought of Mother Mary'. The magazine did however also feature criticisms of Christianity.[7]

In February 1906 Shinkigen and the other faction that emerged from Heiminsha, the materialists, founded a political party together, the Japan Socialist Party.[4]

Like other leftwing and liberal media, Shinkigen was targeted by government repression.[8] All in all, thirteen issues of Shinkigen were published.[9] The Japan Socialist Party survived until February 1907, when it was banned by police following its first party congress.[4][10]

In 1961, a volume containing the editions of Shinkigen were reprinted by Meiji Bunken Shiryo Kankokai.[3]

See also

References
  1. Beckmann, George M., and Genji Okubo. The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1969. p. 3
  2. Mackie, Vera. Feminism in Modern Japan. Contemporary Japanese society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 258
  3. Shin kigen = New era : a monthly socialist review
  4. Mackie, Vera C. Creating Socialist Women in Japan: Gender, Labour and Activism, 1900-1937. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. pp. 47, 232
  5. Howes, John F. Japan's Modern Prophet: Uchimura Kanzô, 1861-1930. Asian religions and society series. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005. pp. 137, 417
  6. Masaoka, Naoichi. Japan to America: A Symposium of Papers by Political Leaders and Representative Citizens of Japan on Conditions in Japan and on the Relations between Japan and the United States. New York, N.Y.: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1914. p. 113
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-07. Retrieved 2010-07-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Strong, Kenneth. Ox against the Storm: A Biography of Tanaka Shozo, Japan's Conservationist Pioneer. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1977. p. 181
  9. Pioneers of the Women's Movement in Japan: Hiratsuka Raicho and Fukuda Hideko seen through their Journals, Seito and Sekai Fujin
  10. The History of the Workers' Movement in Japan, ii
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