Sekihotai

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

The Sekihotai (赤報隊, Sekihōtai^?) was a group of Japanese political extremists in the Bakumatsu, the Japanese civil war in the 1860's. The term also refers to the 1980s' group.

1 1860s' group
2 1980s' group
3 Sekihotai in Fiction
4 External link

[edit] 1860s' group

The Sekihoutai had three units and Sagara Souzou was the captain of the first unit. The captain of the Sekihoutai's second unit was the former captain of the Shinsengumi's ninth unit, Suzuki Mikisaburo (Ito Kashitaro's younger brother.)

The Sekihotai traveled the countryside spreading news about the upcoming change of regime. The Meiji government had made promises such as tax cuts that could not be kept, so they blamed it on the Sekihotai, calling them a 'false army.' While Sagara and members of the first unit were arrested and sentenced to death, Suzuki and the second unit continued to serve the Ishin Shishi (Patriots). As for the members of third unit, many were executed due to their plundering behavior.

[edit] 1980s' group

Recently, the name Sekihotai refers to a 1980's political group of a similarly extreme, though less military, bent. The full name of the group was Nippon Minzoku Dokuritsu Giyugun Betsudo Sekihotai, which translates roughly as Blood Revenge Division of the People's Partisan Corps Working for the Independence of the Japanese Race. This group was responsible for the death of a reporter as well as several threats against the lifes of a former prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and prime minister Noboru Takeshita, citing as cause the changes made to textbooks about World War II. The actions of the Sekihotai have been listed as evidence that the Japanese political right-wing extremists are becoming more violent.

The case was named Metropolitan Designated Case 116. The statute of limitations on the crimes ran out in March 2003, but supralegal investigation continues still now.