Shinkigen

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Shinkigen (新紀元 Shinjiken; "New Era") was a socialist monthly magazine, published in Japan between November 1905 and November 1906.[1][2][3] 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 Isō, Katayama Sen, Ishikawa Sanshiro 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 spirtualistic 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]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 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. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Shin kigen = New era : a monthly socialist review
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Mackie, Vera C. Creating Socialist Women in Japan: Gender, Labour and Activism, 1900-1937. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. pp. 47, 232
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 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. ↑ http://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/3968/ubc_1995-0563.pdf?sequence=1
  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 RAICHÔ AND FUKUDA HIDEKO SEEN THROUGH THEIR JOURNALS, SEITÔ AND SEKAI FUJN
  10. ↑ The History of the Workers' Movement in Japan, ii

See also

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